Steph's Secret
by RangeBabe
Summary: Steph is done with Joe and she wants Ranger, but will her secret help her get him or lose him....Babe. Surprises for everyone in this story!
1. Chapter 1

_**Not mine, not making any money...This is my first try at a longer fic, but I have had this story in my head for a while so here goes nothing...**_

Ok, so where to begin...My name is Stephanie Plum, I am a 33 year old Bounty Hunter from the"Burg". My life at the moment is what you could call complicated. I love two very different men, I have a job that I am not very good at, but hey I always get my man.

The first man that I love is Joe Morrelli, Joe has been in my life since I was six years old. He took my virginity at the age of 16 behind the canolli case at the Tasty Pastry, and then left for the Navy 2 days later. The next time I saw him was two years later and I hit him with my Uncle Sandor's Buick and broke his leg. Joe was my first FTA, and after many mishaps I caught him, I guess looking back I caught him in more ways than one. We

have had an on again/off again relationship for the last two years. The more I think about it the more I realize that this is not a very healthy relationship for either of us. Joe wants to get married, have kids and for me to be the perfect "Burg" housewife and mother. Not going to happen in my lifetime. I am not sure I ever want to get married again and

I am not really sure I ever want to have kids.

Next up in my love life is Ricardo Carlos Mañoso AKA Ranger. He has been there for me since the day Connie asked him to help me out. He became my Professor Higgins, he showed me the ropes and helped me out when I got into a jam. Looking back I am always in a jam. We spent on glorious night together and I have not been able to forget about it.

Some where along the way I fell in love with this mysterious "stranger". He tells me he doesn't do relationships, and his love comes with a condom and no ring. I think he is scared to let anyone in, to scared to let anyone see the real Ricardo. But lately things have been changing, he seems to talk to me a lot more about different things including his new found relationship with his daughter Julie.

As I lay here in bed and think about my life I decide that I have had enough and it is about time that I take charge. I go and get a notebook and a pen and decide to make a list of what I need to do.

First thing I need to do is talk to Joe, even though I love him I am not in love with him. It is not fair to either of us to keep going on like this. Ever since the incident with Scrog things have gone downhill, we only get together once or twice a week and some of those times we just watch a Ranger's game and have pizza. I think slowly with out even realizing it we both have been backing off and away from each other and the sexual side of our relationship.

Next thing I need to do is talk to Ranger, I want him in my life and not just as a friend. I know he won't let me in because he thinks I can't take care of myself, but little does he know I have had the same training he has and I know exactly what he does when he is _"in the wind"._

You see I was born Stephanie Romano and I have a twin brother named Jase and an older sister Maggie, my parents were Jack and Eva Romano. My dad is an Army general and my mother died while giving birth to my brother and I. My dad could not handle raising three kids on his own so I was sent to live with my Aunt Ellen (who is my mom's twin sister) and Uncle Frank. My brother Jase went to live with another aunt and uncle and Maggie stayed with our dad.

I didn't find out about any of this until I was about 12 years old. I was up in the attic looking for some books and I found old photo albums and asked my mom and dad about them. I always knew my dad but he was known to me as Uncle Jack, but I never knew I had a twin brother or sister. After that day when I found the books my mom and dad along with my uncle Jack explained things to me and told me about Maggie and Jase. After that we always spent summers together with my dad at his home in Washington DC.

From the time we met Jase always talked about going into the Army and becoming a Ranger like our dad. By the time I was a junior in high school I had wanted to go into the Army as well. I told my parents and we decided to just tell everyone that I was going away to college, I said that was fine but I had to tell Mary Lou and Eddie the truth. They were my best friends since I could remember and I didn't want to lie to them.

So Jase and I joined the Army but we did it under different names, I became Sam Montgomery and Jase changed his last name to Montgomery. We wanted to go into the Army and not given any special treatment because of our fathers and I say fathers because Frank Plum, the only man I consider to be my father was also in the Army and the Rangers as well.

As I sit here thinking about all of this I decide I need to call my dad as well as my uncle Jack and Jase. If I am going to tell Ranger everything I am going to need there help.

TBC.

Let me know what you think...should I continue???


	2. Chapter 2

It's getting late and I am tired, all of this thinking has worn me out. I awoke the next morning before my alarm and decided to get on with my day. I showered, had some breakfast and was ready to go to the office by 8:30. I called my dad and asked him to meet me at Pino's for lunch, and then left Jase a message to call me ASAP. I stopped off at the Tasty Pastry for some donuts for the girls.

"Morning Connie, any files today?"

"Hey Steph, just two – Mooner & Dougie."

"Thanks, where is Lula this morning?"

"She overslept this morning, she had a late night with..." and then Connie got that glazed over look in her eyes that told me Ranger was here.

I felt him come up behind me and put his hand on my shoulder.

"Morning Babe, Connie."

"Hey Ranger"

"Any files this morning?"

"Not yet, but check back this afternoon?"

"Babe can I talk to you outside for a minute?"

"Sure. Bye Connie I will see you after I drop off Mooner and Dougie."

"By Steph."

I walked over to Ranger who was waiting for me by his truck.

"What's up?"

"You ok, you look tired."

"I'm fine, just have a lot on my mind."

"I have some searches that I could use your help with, but they can wait until tomorrow. I just wanted to make sure you were ok."

"Thanks Ranger, but really I am fine and I will be in to Rangeman tomorrow morning."

"Later Babe."

Well that went well, guess I will go get Mooner & Dougie now. A quick stop at McDonald's a few episodes of _I Dream of Jeannie_ and we were on our way to the cop shop.

For a change I was really hoping to run into Joe, and as I looked up I saw him making his way over to me.

"Hey Cupcake, how are you?"

"I'm good Joe. What time will you be done tonight, there is a Ranger's game on and I thought I could drop by and we could watch it together."

"I should be home by 6:30, want to come by around 7? I have a few things I need to talk to you about."

"Sure sounds good, see you then."

I wonder what he wants to talk about, guess I will find out later on. I realized that it was almost time to meet my dad so I hopped into Big Blue and took off for Pino's. My dad pulled in right next to me, he looked a little worried.

"Hey daddy, everything ok?"

"Yeah everything is fine, just worried about you?"

"Me, why are you worried about me?"

"Well it isn't everyday that you ask me to lunch."

"Sorry to worry you, I just needed to talk to you without mom and grandma around. Why don't we grab a table order a pizza and talk?"

"Sounds good Pumpkin."

Once the waitress took our order I started the talk

"I wanted to talk to you about my past and telling Ranger, I know I said I wanted to leave it all buried in the past but I can't."

My dad interrupted "You are in love with him aren't you?"

"Yeah"

"What about Joe?"

"I don't love him the way I should, the way he needs. He loves me and wants to marry me and become the perfect little "burg" housewife and mother, but dad you know me and I can't do it. I am going to Joe's tonight to talk to him and tell him that it is over for good.

Ranger has always been there for me, I have been working with him and his guys more and more lately and all it does is make Joe even more mad than usual. I don't know what this thing with Ranger is or if anything will ever happen. He has told me in the past that his life does not lend itself to relationships, but honestly I think he is scared that I won't except him or his past."

"So you think by telling him that he will let you into his life because you used to lead the same life? Let me tell you what I know about Ranger."

I looked at my dad like he was crazy...he knew Ranger?

"Dad what do you mean by that?"

"I first met Ranger when he was brought in to do an extraction for a team captured in Columbia. His team..."

"Wait a minute, you mean that Ranger is the one who got us out of there?"

"Yes."

I sat there lost in thought, the last mission I did as a Ranger was a bad one. I shouldn't have even been there, but they needed a female on the team and they asked me to do it. My team was captured and held prisoner for weeks. I was raped and tortured, and the guys were all tortured as well. I thought we would all die there. Then finally we were rescued by another team of Rangers, I never knew any of their names until now.

"Steph, you still with me?"

"Sorry dad, I was just thinking back. I guess now I know why I have always been so comfortable around him and the guys. How come you never told me this before?"

"I wanted to, but I also did not want to bring up any bad memories for you."

"Thanks dad, so you agree that I should tell them? I already put in a call to Jase and Uncle Jack, I am waiting for one of them to return my call."

"I think it is a good idea, I think you and Ranger are good together. I have seen how he protects you and how well he takes care of you."

"Well I better get out of here, I want to go home before I meet with Joe tonight.

"Just remember that I love you Pumpkin and I am here for you whenever you need me."

"I know, thank you."

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

Still not mine and not making any money.

So now here I am alone in my apartment thinking about my talk with Joe later tonight. I was going to drive myself crazy if I sat here like this for the next couple of hours. I decided a nice little nap and then a quick shower would be good, so I set my alarm to go off at 5 then I hit the pillow and I was out like a light. I got up with the alarm and then went in and got a shower, did the hair thing got dressed and was on my way to Joe's.

I was starting to get a little nervous, but I kept telling myself that you can do this, you need to do this. The next thing I knew I was in the burg and in front of Joe's house and I noticed Joe was at the door waiting for me with Bob.

"Hey cupcake, we have missed you and so have the boys."

OH boy I thought, this is not going to go well.

"Hey Joe" I said as I leaned down to pet Bob who was trying to knock me over to get my attention.

"Let's go sit down and eat, I got us a couple of subs and some beer to go with the game."

"Sounds good."

We ate mostly in silence as we watched the game, a few minutes later Bob came back in the room looking like he really needed to go out for a walk.

"Hey Joe, why don't we take Bob for a walk before he decides to use the couch instead of a tree."

"Yeah lets go."

I decide now is just a good a time as any.

"Joe, we need to talk."

"Cupcake, we need to talk."

We both started at the same time. I laughed and told him to start first.

"OK, cupcake where do you see us going? I mean I love you and I want to marry you, but lately you seem like that when are with me you are not all here. Things have really changed between us since the whole Scrog incident and I don't think it is for the better. I mean you tell me that you love me and then you seem to distance yourself. What is going on?"

"I don't know anymore Joe, I mean I do love you but...God this is so hard. Look can we go back to your house and talk, I think we would both feel more comfortable."

"Sure"

Upon entering the house Joe asked if I wanted anything to drink to which I told him no.

"Ok Steph, you love me but..."

"But it's not the kind of love that you need or that you deserve." Joe tried to interrupt but I put my hand up to stop him. "You want me to marry you, have babies with you and take care of the house and not work anymore, right"? He shook his head. "What about what I want or what I need, I still want to fly, take risks..."

"Steph..."

"No, just listen. I need to be with someone who pushes me to be a better person, someone I can grow with, someone who is not only my friend or lover but my partner...my EQUAL partner. You want someone to stay home and take care of babies and a house. You are ready to settle down and I am no where near there and don't know if I ever will be."

"Well then I guess I know where I stand and to be honest I think I knew this was coming but just didn't want to admit it. You know that job I was offered with the FBI down in DC, I decided to take it and was going to ask you to go with me. I don't want to lose you from my life cupcake, I hope we can stay friends."

I think my jaw hit the floor, I could not believe how well this conversation was actually going.

"Joe you will never lose me and you better come visit."

"You know cupcake, I think this is he most adult conversation we have ever had. I know you still need to fly, and I wanted to make you into something you would never be and for that I apologize. I think I have loved you for most of my life and I always thought that we would end up married."

"Well I am going to go home, it has been a long day. I do love you Joe."

"I know."

"When are you leaving for DC?"

"Not for a couple of weeks, so we will have to catch a few more games before I go. You know he loves you right, do you love him?"

"What are you talking about?" I knew he was talking about Ranger.

"Oh come on Steph, I see the way he looks at you..."

"Stop right there, I will not talk about this with you. Now I am going to go before we start to fight and say things we both might regret later."

"Goodnight Cupcake." And with that he gave me a lingering kiss on the forehead.

I spent the drive home thinking about how much had changed in the last 24 hours. And for the first time in a long time I was starting to feel really good about things, but then I thought about the talk I was going to have with Ranger about my past and wondered if he would hate me for not telling him the truth before.

Oh well tomorrow is another day and hopefully Jase will have called by then and I can get the ball rolling on how to tell Ranger everything from my past.

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

I took the elevator up to my apartment, when I got to my door I could hear the TV in the background. Shit, of all times not have my gun. I put the key in the lock to open the door and it opened up before I had a chance to even turn the key, I looked up right into the eyes of my brother Jase.

"Hey sis."

"What the hell are you doing in my apartment, you scared me half to death!"

"You said you wanted to talk and I was already planning on coming for a visit, you weren't here so I let myself in." He had the biggest shit eating grin on his face and I just wanted to smack it right off of him.

"Well you could have called me and told me you were here." Now he was full out laughing at me "You are such an Ass."

"I know but you love me anyway."

"Yeah, I guess I do. So when did you decide to come for a visit?"

"I got a call from an old friend asking if I wanted a job, I thought I would come and check it out."

"Where is this job?"

"Rangeman."

I don't think he could have shocked me more. "Tell me you are joking?"

"Nope"

"How long have you known Ranger? Did you know him when he got us out of Columbia?"

"No, I didn't meet him until then. But we became friends after, are you still working for him and how the hell did you know that I knew him at all?"

"I had lunch with my dad today and he told me that Ranger's team was the one that go us out of there. Does he have any idea of who I am?"

"None at all, how could he? I mean back then your hair was short and blond, you wore contacts and when they found us we were not in the best of shape. So what was so important that I had to call you ASAP?"

"Ranger, I want to tell him everything. He has offered me a full time position on his team and I want him to know the truth. He has helped me more in the last three years than anyone ever has."

"What about Joe?"

"What about him, we broke up tonight." Now it is Jase's turn to look shocked. "Joe has never supported me or my job, he hates my friends and he really hates Ranger."

"Good for you, I am glad you have finally put an end to things. You deserve better."

We were just sitting not really talking and the phone rang.

"Are you going to answer that?"

"Nope."

"Babe, call me." Great just what I needed right now

"Babe? Was that Ranger?"

"Yeah, I better call him back or he will be knocking at the door."

I hit speed dial 1 on my phone and he picked up after 2 rings.

"Hey Ranger, what's up?"

"Distraction job, Saturday night you up for it?"

"Sure, we can go over the details in the morning."

"Later Babe."

Does that man ever let anyone hang up first?????

"So, what was that all about?"

"Ranger needs me to do a distraction job for him on Saturday."

"Babe?" Jase asked me with a smirk on his face

"Shut up, he has called me that since we met. I am tired so I think I am going to turn in, are you staying here tonight?"

"Yeah, if you don't mind."

"No problem, blankets are in the closet. Night Jase."

"Night Steph."

I had a lot going through my mind and didn't think I stood a chance at getting any sleep tonight. Boy was I wrong, the next thing I knew I heard my alarm going off and smelled coffee.

"Morning Jase, are you making breakfast?" Then I looked around and saw something suspiciously healthy on the table. "What is that?"

"It is a protein and vegetable drink." He told me while he was laughing at me.

"_**I can't drink that...It's green**_." Now he was laughing even harder.

"Relax that is for me, I am making you eggs."

"Thanks, I am going to grab a quick shower."

I took a quick shower, got dressed in my Rangeman uniform and did the hair and makeup thing. As I was coming out of the bathroom I heard voices in my kitchen. I stood there thinking of who Jase could be talking to when I recognized the voice...OH boy this should be fun.

"Morning Ranger, you staying for breakfast?"

"No, I was here to see if you wanted to have breakfast with me before your shift starts. But I can see you are busy so I will see you later. Jase I will see you at 10:00."

He looked kind of pissed, now who he was pissed at was anyone's guess. The next thing I know he was walking out the door, the door made a loud thud when he slammed it shut.

"Whoa, for "just friends" he looked kind of pissed that I am here making you breakfast this morning. Or maybe that was jealousy I saw in his eyes."

"I don't know what his problem is, he has no reason to be pissed or jealous. He has told me a number of times that _his_ life _does not lend itself to relationships and his love comes with a condom and no ring_. Thanks for breakfast, I better get to work before I am late. I have a feeling that today is going to be a bad day. See you at Rangeman."

"Wait a minute, are you telling me that you and Ranger were already in a relationship?"

"No, it was nothing. Just a talk we had a long while ago. Look I really have to get going, I still have to stop at the bonds office and pick up files.

With that I hopped into the elevator and went to my car. I stopped at the Tasty Pasty on the way to the Bond's office, on days that I work at Rangeman I still go in there to pick up my files as well as Ranger's. Connie was at her desk when I got there and Lula was no where in site.

"Morning Connie, I brought you some breakfast. Any files?"

"Morning, thanks and yeah I have two for you and three for Ranger."

"Thanks Connie, gotta run. Tell Lula I will talk to her later."

The closer I got to Rangeman the more my stomach started flipping. I pulled up and remoted the gate open and parked. I sat in my car for a few minutes chanting...You can do this, you can do this...over and over again. All of a sudden there was a knock on the window, I jumped so high I think I hit the roof of the car.

"Christ Tank, are you trying to give me a hear attack!"

"Sorry Bomber, I was just wondering if you were going to join us today?"

"Yeah yeah whatever, let's get this day over with.


	5. Chapter 5

Tank kept looking at me on the ride up to the 5th floor, and when we got off the elevator he followed me to my cubby.

"Something you want Tank?"

"What did you do to the boss this morning?"

"What the hell are you talking about, I didn't do anything to him. He came over this morning and asked to take me to breakfast but someone beat him to it. He looked mad when he stormed out my front door and slammed it shut. But the thing is Tank he has no reason to be mad, I have no idea why he acted like that."

"Was the cop there?"

"No we are finished." Tank's eyebrow shot up and he continued to just stare at me. "For good Tank, we both realized that we are better friends than lovers. Joe is moving down to DC in a couple of weeks, he took a permanent position on an FBI task force."

"Wow, I never thought I would see the day the two of you were finished for good. So if it wasn't Morelli in your apartment this morning who was it?"

Just then I felt someone come up behind me and Tank get a huge smile on his face.

"Jase, damn good to see ya man. I hear you might be joining us, let me introduce you to the Bombshell."

"No need, hey Steph."

"Your here early, I thought your appointment wasn't until 10."

"It's not but I thought I would come up early and catch up with a few of the guys."

By now the look on Tank's face is just to funny.

"What is going on over here?" Oh great here comes Lester and Bobby to add to the party.

"Hey guys."

"Jase, good to see you."

"Good to see you to Les."

"Hold on a minute, I want to know how in the world you two know each other?" Tank asked still looking a little funny.

Now it was Lester and Bobby's turn to look at us funny.

"We have known each other most of our lives, we are old friends. Jase got into town last night and stayed at my apartment."

"Ahh I see, so he was your breakfast date."

"Yes Tank."

All of a sudden I could feel the little hairs on the back of my neck stand up and I knew Ranger was on his way over.

"How about we move this to one of the conference rooms?" Ranger's voice boomed out.

"Enjoy your meeting boys."

"Babe I was hoping you could join us."

I looked up at Ranger and then at the guys, I wonder if the shock I felt was showing on my face.

"You want me in there?"

"Yeah Babe I do, you seem to know Jase and if things work out he could be your new permanent partner."

"Okay."

"Babe hold on a second."

"What's up Ranger?"

"How do you know Jase?"

"We kind of grew up together and have been friends for a long time, he was at my apartment when I got home last night. I was kind of shocked when he told me that he had a job interview here today."

"Well I was talking to Jase a few weeks ago and he said he would like to make some changes work wise so I asked him if he wanted a spot on my core team. Now all I need is for you to accept. Come on we better get in there."

"Lead the way...Boss."

He turned giving me all 1000 watts of his wolf grin.

"Does this mean that you are in?"

"Maybe, we have some things to talk about first."

"Let me guess...Morelli?"

"Nope, there is no more Morelli. We called it quits last night. For good."

Now it was my turn to give him a wolf grin. We both finally made it in to the conference room, and all the guys were looking at us.

"Ok let's get this meeting started. So Jase what have you been up to lately?"

"Well up until 2 months ago I was working for the government. But I figured that it was time to get out and look into other options. Then you called and I figured this might be a good switch for me."

"How would you feel about working with Steph as your permanent partner?"

"Does she still blow things up all the time?"

"Hey!" He is so lucky I don't have anything to throw at him right now.

"I'm just kidding Steph, and no I wouldn't have any problems working with her. It might be kind of fun."

There was a knock at the door and Ram came in to let Ranger know that the General was on his way up.

"Thanks Ram, let him know where we are and ask him to join us."

I looked over at Jase and my stomach dropped, I had a feeling I knew who they were talking about. The next time the door opened my suspicions were correct.

"Hello everyone. Steph what are you doing here?"

"Hi uncle Jack, how are you?"

Ranger, Tank, Lester and Bobby all looked shocked at our greeting.

"Well I told you that I work here part time, but now it looks like I am going to be joining Ranger's team and Jase is going to be my partner. What brings you by here?"

"I usually drop by every couple of months to see how things are going, I guess I never told you that I am one of Ric's partners in Rangeman. So Jase you are going to take the job?"

Now it is my turn to look shocked, I can't believe that he never told me that he was one of Ranger's partners. I started to feel sick to my stomach, knowing that today was going to be just as bad as I thought.

"Babe are you all right?"

"Yeah, I uh..." I have to get out of here, as I stand up to leave my legs gave out and I started to fall back into my chair. "Guys I am fine, I think I am just a little tired. It has been a long couple of days."

"You sure?" Jase asked me.

"Yeah, listen I need to talk to my uncle and Jase for a minute. Ranger can I use your office?"

"Why don't you just go up to 7 and talk that way you can have all the privacy you need. I will call Ella and have her bring the three of you some lunch. We have a take down in about an hour and we will be gone most of the afternoon. When we get back we can finish this up if it is ok with everyone."

"Thanks Ranger, I think we will do that. Is that ok with you two?"

"Sure"

"Let's go then."

I waited until we were in Ranger's apartment to say anything to either of the men that were with me. I was so mad at both of them for just showing up and surprising me and I was about to let them both know it. And once we were through that door I let loose.

"How the hell could you two do this to me? I called you both and asked for a call back, not showing up here like this. I wasn't planning on telling Ranger today, I wanted to talk to you and go over how and what I was going to tell him. There is no way I am going to be able to tell him anything but the truth, Ranger is the one person in this world I can not lie to."

"Look Steph we are sorry", said Jase "but I really was on my way here when I got your call and even without your call I was still coming to you first. I didn't want you to walk in here today and see me and wonder what the hell is going on."

"I am also sorry, but when Ranger told me about the meeting I told him I would be here. I completely forgot that you had started working here part time and didn't even think that I would run into you here."

"Well that is all fine and good, but what the hell am I supposed to tell Ranger. I am so not ready for this today."

I flopped back on the couch and covered my eyes with my hands. I heard a knock at the door and knew our lunch had just arrived.

"Hi Ella."

"Hello Steph, Ranger asked me to bring up some lunch for you. I'll just put it in the kitchen. Hello Jack, nice to see you back with us."

"Hello Ella, I would like you to meet my son Jase."

"Nice to meet you"

"Well I will let you get to lunch, if there is anything else you need just buzz."

"Thanks again Ella. Well I guess we should go in and eat, and then you two can help me figure out what I am going to say to Ranger later on."

We all sat at the breakfast bar and ate in silence. I had so many thoughts going through my head, I thought it might explode. The biggest one being _What if Ranger hates me when I tell him the truth or what if he wants nothing to do with me ever again._ And then there is Tank, Lester and Bobby...will they ever want to work with me again??? I just wish I could start this day over, then I would just stay in bed for the next couple of weeks.

"Ok so I think you should just tell him from start to finish." Jase said to me, breaking the silence.

"But how do I start?"

"From the beginning." My father had said.

"I just don't know if I can do this, if I were to lose him from my life I don't know what I would do." I normally don't cry, but this seemed as good a time as any.

"Steph don't cry, we will be right here with you for as long as you need us."

"Thanks Jase."

Just then the phone started to ring and I got up to answer. It was Ranger, I asked him to come up so we could talk and then hung up.

"Ok, so he is on his way up here. It is now or never, I am going to freshen up in the bathroom I will be right back."

I stood in the bathroom looking at myself in the mirror, I was a mess with tear streaks down my face and I was all red and blotchy. I fixed myself as good as I could and gave myself a few swipes of mascara and then I was ready to go and face the firing squad. When I left the bathroom I heard Ranger's voice and felt sick to my stomach again...Here goes nothing...

TBC

Thank you for all of the reviews, they really do help me write faster...lol So keep em' coming.


	6. Chapter 6

Still not mine...still not making money

"Hey Ranger everything go okay?"

"Yeah Babe, everything was fine. Now what is going on up here, you have been crying and you look like you are about to pass out."

"Can we all sit in the living room?"

_You can do this..._I keep repeating this over and over in my head.

"Okay here goes. Ranger, I need to tell you a few things and I would appreciate it if you let me get it all out before you start asking questions."

"Okay." Ranger's blank face faltered for just a second but I could see a look a nervousness slip through.

"I have a few things to tell you and when I am done if you are mad at me or hate me I will understand." I took a deep breath looked over at my father and Jase and started speaking again. "I guess the easiest way to tell you this is that Frank and Ellen Plum are not my parents. I was born Stephanie Romano and Jack is not my uncle, he is my father. Jase is my twin brother."

Ranger looked like he was just hit with a truck. I didn't know whether or not I should continue or just leave and let those two handle the rest. I turned and looked at Jase and my father and quietly asked them to leave us alone and they did. As soon as they were gone I started speaking again.

"Ranger please do not be mad, I did not keep this from you to hurt you. Since the incident with Scrog my life has changed a lot, I knew soon after all of that, that I had to tell you the truth. I put it in the back of my mind for a while, but then a couple of weeks ago when you asked me to join your team I knew I had to tell you before I made my final decision."

At this point I look over at Ranger and he was just sitting there looking at me and I don't think he had any idea of what to say. All of a sudden he gets up and starts talking to me.

"Let's get out of here, I want to finish this talk but not here. Will you come with me...Trust me?"

"Your not mad at me?"

"How could I be mad at you?"

"Let's get out of here then, but I should tell Jase and my uncle Jack that we are leaving."

"We can stop in the control room on the way out and let them know."

We rode the elevator down in silence and once we stepped on the control room floor I looked for Jase immediately. Range moved me into the direction of Tank's office. I peeked my head in and saw the guys in there.

"Hey I need to borrow Jase for a second?" And Ranger was right behind me telling Tank that he needed to speak with him.

"Steph what happened up there?" Jase asked me with a worried look on his face.

"I started to tell him and got as far as Jack is my dad and you are my brother. After that Ranger asked me if we could go someplace else and talk and so that is what we are doing. I just wanted to let you know so that you didn't worry. I also wanted to give you my keys in case you wanted to go back to my apartment."

"I won't be needing the keys, Tank gave me an apartment here. As for Ranger, good luck and call me to let me know how it all went."

"I will, I love you. Thank you for helping me out."

"Babe you ready to go?"

"Yeah, see ya guys later."

Once down in the garage we got into the Turbo and took of for a destination unknown to me. When Ranger stopped at the grocery store, I was a little shocked. Then he turned and spoke to me.

"I am taking you to my house, I haven't been there for a little while and there is no food or anything to drink there. I thought it would be a good idea to pick some stuff up so we won't be interrupted. Now why don't you get yourself some snack type stuff and I will worry about stuff for meals."

"Good idea." I headed right for the TastyKakes. I think this might also call for some Ben & Jerry's with a side of peanut butter, olives and some bread.

I finally am getting to see the Bat caveand with everything else going on I can't even get to excited about it. I am to nervous thinking about the rest of this conversation and wondering what is going on in Ranger's head.

"Ready to checkout?" Ranger asked me as I stood there in my stupor.

"All set."

Back in the car Ranger was in his zone, and I was left here to think again. We better get there soon before I go completely crazy. A few minutes later we pulled up to a gate that he had to put a code into to get it to open.

We pulled up to a beautiful house, not to big and not to small either.

"Come on Babe let's get this stuff put away so we can talk."

I followed him through the garage and went through a door that led into the kitchen and what a beautiful kitchen it is. I know I would have time to snoop later on, but I wanted nothing more than to do it now and put this conversation off a little longer. Ranger got us a couple bottles of water and led me out to a beautiful living room.

"Ready to finish our talk?" Ranger asked me

"Not really, but you need to know all of it. Do you have any questions before I continue?" He shook his head no.

"Well when I was born my mother died and my father could not handle raising 3 young children on his own. I was send to live with Ellen and Frank Plum, my mom and Ellen were twin sisters and Frank and my father were best friends in the army. Jase went to live with my father's brother and since Maggie was older she stayed with him. I never knew about them until I was 12 years old, but after I found out and everything was explained I met Jase and Maggie. We used to spend the summer's together either with my father or my aunt and uncle, we became really close. Jase always talked about going into the army and after a while it became what I wanted to. I figured what better way to get an education and travel." Ranger just sat there quietly while looking at me, never saying a word so I continues on. "I told my parents and we all agreed to just tell people I went to college, my mom didn't think it was lady like for me to go into the army and God forbid the neighbors found out." at this point Ranger looked like he wanted to say something so I stopped and asked him his thoughts.

"I think I know the rest of this, I have been friends with Jase for quite some time now and he told me all about you. You father used to talk about you as well, he has always been proud of you and what you have accomplished in your life. For that matter so have I."

It was my turn to just sit quietly and listen.

"I never even recognized you, but I never forgot about you. For some reason when you walked into that diner three years ago, I felt some need to protect you and keep you safe. I have only had that feeling one other time about a women and that was in Columbia. But I never really knew what happened after, I asked Jase and you father but they both told me that you were having a hard time and you just wanted to get away from it all."

When Ranger quieted again, I took this as my opportunity to start speaking .

"I don't remember much about that time period in my life, I was pretty screwed up after that. I went through a lot of therapy and even went as far as to take medication to help me forget it all. Before that last mission I had finished school with a degree in Criminal Psychology and had been accepted into the FBI and I didn't think things could get any better. I was just starting to work on my first case when we had been called in to help in Columbia. When it was all over I knew there was no way I could go back to my old life, I just wanted to forget it all. After the therapy I came home to the "burg", met Dickie and we dated for a while. We got married, divorced and I started working at EE Martin. It wasn't until I was laid off and started Bounty Hunting that I first thought of my old life. I distanced myself from Maggie and Jase for a while, but then as the years went on we became close again never talking about what happened. This is hard for me to have to bring up these memories, but I couldn't go on with out you knowing. It wouldn't be right if you didn't know about my past, I want to get serious about my training and taking this job with your team."

"Is that the only reason you wanted me to know?" Ranger asked, when I looked up at him I saw a look that I couldn't put my finger on. What the hell I thought I might as well tell him everything.

"No, it's not. Look Ranger there is another reason that Joe and I are over and it is not just because I don't want the same things that he does. I don't love him like I love..." I could feel the tears threatening to fall and a lump had formed in my throat and I didn't know if I could go any further with out breaking down completely.

"Love who Babe?"

In an almost whisper I answered.

"You...I have been falling in love with you since the day we met in that diner. Living in denial land has made things so easy for me, after the night we spent together I thought that maybe we had a chance and then you sent me back to Morelli. I couldn't go fast enough, it really hurt and I used Morelli to make the pain go away. But it didn't work, things with Joe never felt the same again. If anything what I felt for you grew stronger." Now the tears were flowing freely down my face.

"Babe, I have loved you for a long time. At the time when I told you, I wasn't ready for the way you made me feel and I took a page out of your book and went straight into denial about what I felt for you I have never wanted any woman like I wanted you and it scared me. I should not have qualified that I love you or sent you back to Morelli, those are two of the biggest regrets that I have and I hope that someday you will be able to forgive me."

"Wow, I gotta tell you Ranger that was not what I was expecting from you."

When I looked over he had is eyebrow raised in question. "What I mean is, I was scared that you were going to hate me and never want anything to do with me again."

"Why would you think that? I have led a life that for the last 10 years or so has been a secret, I have a few people that I can talk about things with and outside of them no one knows what we have done over the years. You now know why I have closed myself off to people, or at least I hope you do. I had to be that way to keep people I love safe, with all of the enemies I have made over the years there is no telling if one of them could go after someone I love. Look what happened with Julie, if I had stayed away from her none of that would have ever happened."

"I do understand, and that is another reason I had to tell you. I want you in my life forever, not just for a casual fling. But you would never let me in and I think it was because you were afraid of what I might think of y..."

Ranger interrupted me.

"Babe"

"No Ranger let me finish, Please? He nodded for me to go on. "I always knew that you had secrets and you did jobs that may have not have been completely legal, but so have I. I just couldn't bring myself to go back there and bring up those memories from the past. But something changed after Scrog and I knew I had to tell you soon." With that I started yawning. Ranger of course noticed this.

"Babe you are tired, let's go get some sleep. If you want we can talk some more once we are in bed, but I have a feeling you are going to be out as soon as your head hits the pillow." He chuckled a little at his last statement.

"Your right, lead the way Batman!"

I followed Ranger upstairs to a gorgeous bedroom all done in earth tones.

"Babe the bathroom is over there, why don't you go get ready for bed."

"Thanks Ranger." Once finished in the bathroom I went back out and joined Ranger on the bed.

I didn't realize how tired I was until I sunk down in Ranger's comfy bed.

"Do you mind if we don't talk anymore, I am really tired and would love it if you would just hold me."

Ranger pulled me into him and gave me a gentle kiss and then we both got comfortable. The last thing I remember is Ranger telling me that he loved me and I think I got out that I loved him before I went off to dreamland.

TBC...


	7. Chapter 7

Still not mine, not making any money...All characters (except Jase, Jack, Maggie and bad guys to be named later) belong to JE.

I awoke the next morning alone in bed and I figured that Ranger must be out for his morning run. I laid there for a while thinking about everything that happened yesterday and couldn't believe that things went this well. I decided to get up and grab a shower and try to do something with my rat's nest. When I was done in the shower I had noticed that there were clothes on the bed for me to wear and I smelled coffee and something wonderful. I guess Ranger was back and making us breakfast, so I got dressed and made my way downstairs to the kitchen. Ranger was there making what looked like waffles.

"Morning Ranger."

"Morning Babe, I have coffee already made and breakfast will be ready in a few minutes." God, could this man be any more perfect.

"Thank you, everything smells wonderful."

We sat at the table and ate breakfast in silence, but I knew as soon as we were done Ranger would want to finish our talk. I wanted some questions answered so I started.

"So why don't you tell me what you are thinking?" Ranger looked at me and raised his eyebrow and gave me his wolf grin. "Not that, I mean what I told you last night."

"I know Babe, I just wanted to lighten the mood a little bit. I am fine with everything you told me last night, to be honest I had a hard time sleeping with everything going through my head." I started to interrupt but Ranger put a hand up. "Let me finish. I thought mostly about what this means for us. I don't think it is any secret that I want you and vice versa, I told you last night that I was scared but now that feeling is gone. I want us to be free to explore a relationship, I know I told you before that my love only comes with a condom and no ring and that is yet another thing that I have told you that I regret. I will spend my life trying to make that up to you."

I think my jaw hit the floor in shock, I never thought that Ranger would ever say the words I so longed to hear from him.

"Babe, hey are you still with me?" He asked with a chuckle.

"Yeah, I was just thinking of how long I have waited to hear you say that." I replied with a smile on my face.

"Good, seal it with a kiss?"

I got up went over to where he stood, he put his arms around me and leaned down and gave me a bone melting kiss. Once we broke apart I asked him what we were going to do with the rest of the day.

"We can stay here or go back to Rangeman, if we stay here we just have to be up early tomorrow to head into work."

"I vote for going back now, you know how I hate to get up any earlier than I have to."

"I have to ask, are you going to tell the guys?"

"For now I know I have to at least tell Tank, Lester and Bobby since we will all be working together so closely. I just don't know how they are going to take it, I don't want them mad at me either."

"They will be fine with it, they all love and respect you, you are apart of us. Once they know who you really are, it will just make them respect you all the more."

"I hope you are right, can we ask them to have dinner with us tonight? I want to tell them and get it over with, if I wait any longer I will drive myself insane."

"I will ask Ella to make dinner for us, do you want Jase there as well?"

"Yeah, might as well have some extra moral support. Could you drop me off at my apartment on the way? I want to change and take care of Rex."

"Sure. Why don't you grab some clothes and spend the night." I gave him a questioning look. "I know what you are thinking and the reason I want you to stay is I have a feeling this is going to turn into another long night and maybe emotional night and I don't want you alone."

"Thank you, I don't want you to think that I don't want to spend the night with you because believe me I do. I just want us to take things slow, I want this...us to work."

"So do I." Ranger came to stand next to me and pulled me into a hug. I reached up and whispered to him. "I love you." "I love you to."

"Ready to go?" He asked with a smile on his face.

"Ready as I will ever be."

It was about a 40 minute ride back to my apartment and Ranger was in his zone and for once I was thankful for that. It gave me a lot of time to sort things out in my head and think about what has happened in the last few days. I still can't believe that the talk with Ranger went so well. I really thought he was going to walk away from me for good, but I should have known better. I was so lost in my own thoughts I didn't realize we were back in Trenton and in my parking lot.

"You ok over there Babe?"

"Yup, just thinking. Are you coming up?"

"For a minute, why don't you just grab some stuff and Rex and just come back with me now?"

"If you don't mind waiting I will."

"Take your time, you know you could move into Rangeman if you want."

I looked at him like he was crazy, I though we had just talked this morning about taking things slow. He saw the look on my face and then continued speaking.

"I didn't mean the 7th floor, not yet anyway. You are part of the core team now, and there are apartments on the 4th floor available."

"Maybe I will, can I think about if for a couple of days and get back to you?"

"Of course". Ranger replied. "Ok I am ready to go, what time are we having dinner?"

"Whenever you are ready, the guys are all over at Rangeman waiting for us."

"Let's go."

The ride to Rangeman didn't take long and once we pulled into the garage I was feeling nervous and sick to my stomach. Of course Ranger noticed.

"Babe, calm down everything is going to be ok."

With that he helped me out of the car and we got on the elevator and went up to 7. By now it was almost 6:30 and I was getting hungry. Once in the apartment I heard Ranger call Ella and asked her to bring dinner up at 7, then he called the guys and told them to come up. A few minutes later I heard a knock at the door and went and answered it.

"Hey guys, come on in."

I got a chorus of Hey Bombshell and a I need to talk to you from Jase. I told the guys to go in and Jase and I stayed in the foyer.

"What's wrong?" I asked

"Well don't be mad at me."

"Jase what did you do?"

"Last night the guys and I stayed here and had a few beers and pizza's, and then you and Ric came up in conversation. I told them that he better treat my little sister right, if not boss or not we would have problems. Tank looked at me like I was crazy and asked me what I was talking about. I told him that I always thought of you as my little sister. He dropped it after that but I think he may know. I am sorry Steph."

"Hey don't worry about it, that is what this little dinner meeting is all about. Ranger took the news a hell of a lot better than I thought he would.

I said with a big smile on my face.

"Really so what is going on with the two of you now?"

"Well we did a lot of talking and we decided to give it a real shot at making things work between us."

"I am glad things worked out for the two of you."

"Thanks, now we better get in there before they think we are running away."

As we were walking to the other room there was another knock on the door.

I opened the door to reveal Ella.

"Hi Ella come on in."

"Hello Stephanie, how are you this evening?"

"I'm good and you?"

"I am fine, would you like this in the dining room"?

"Yes, thank you Ella."

After Ella left we all sat down and started in on a delicious meal. We chit chatted while we ate but didn't get into anything to important. I noticed Tank kept looking over at me but he never said a word. When dinner was over I suggested we all go out and sit in the living room. I figured I would start with Tank first.

"Tank do you have something that you want to ask me?"

He looked over at me and thought about if for a minute and then started. "Well Jase said something last night and it has had me thinking ever since." I mad a go on gesture with my hands. "Well he said something about you being his little sister." At this point Tank looked like he didn't know what to say so I finished for him.

"So you want to know what he was talking about right? Tank nodded his head and when I looked at Lester and Bobby they also nodded their heads.

"Jase is my brother, my twin brother."

"Holy shit, are you kidding me?" This coming from Lester, Bobby and Tank just sat there quietly smiling at me.

"Nope, not kidding." I replied. "I am sorry for keeping this from you but I knew I had to tell you all when Ranger asked me to join the team. I just didn't know how. I talked to my dad and then called Jase to tell him what I was going to do. I wasn't planning on all of this coming out this way or this fast. But it did and now you all know, if you hate me because I didn't tell you I completely understand. But I hope you all understand my reasons for not telling you. That last mission in Columbia really messed me up, and it took a long time to bury all of the pain and the memories of what happened to me and the guys. When all was said and done it was almost a year later, I came home to Trenton met Dickie and you guys know the rest."

Tank came over and stood in front of me and put his hand out and pulled me up. He wrapped me in his huge arms and told me that he loved me and could never hate me. Bobby and Lester did the same thing.

"Thanks guys, I was scared to tell any of you afraid of what your reactions might be."

"So are you still going to join the team and work with us?"

"Yeah, but I might take some time off first. I was talking with Maggie a few days ago and she got me to thinking about what I was doing before that last mission."

"What were you doing?"

"I was just starting with the FBI and working my first case. Maggie asked me if I was going to go back to the FBI now that you all knew about my past. I have been thinking about doing just that, but I don't know."

"Babe you could still work here if you wanted, we all have ties with the feds and you could work with us. When I asked you to join the team I was trying to find a way to get you all the clearances you would need to work with us without all the training with the FBI. We could have done all the training here."

"I will have to talk with my uncle Jack, I know he worked out a deal that if I ever wanted to come back that I would be able to. I am just not sure what I would have to do. The one thing I will not do though is another mission."

"You won't have to, we are almost done with our contract and I don't think any of us are going to resign. When we first did those contracts none of us had any ties holding us back, now we do." Ranger said this while looking at me and I knew what he meant.

"Ok, so are we all ok?"

"We are better than ok beautiful." Lester told me.

"I promised Lula I would be over tonight so I am outta here." Tank gave me a hug and left.

Bobby and Lester also took off and that left Ranger, Jase and myself.

"So are you ok?" Jase asked.

"Yeah I am good, I am happy that this is all over with."

"I am going to go downstairs, I have to make some arrangements to go down to DC and pack up my stuff."

"Goodnight Jase, if you need anything just let me know."

"Thanks Ric I will, night Steph."

Ranger and I were alone again and I suggested watching a movie.

"How about Ghostbusters?"

"Yeah this way if I fall asleep I won't miss much."

We snuggled up on the couch together and I didn't even make it through half the movie. The next thing I knew I was being carried and put into bed by Ranger.

"Night Ric, I love you." I said through my sleep haze.

"Night Babe, I love you to."

And with that I was out for the night.

TBC

Let me know what you think or if you have any ideas of what you would like to see happen let me know.


	8. Chapter 8

Still not mine and not making any money, just playing with the wonderful characters that JE created.

Ranger's POV

Steph had fallen asleep pretty quickly and I was holding her in my arms, right where she should be. I have had dreams of having her here for so long and now that it has finally happened I am afraid that if I go to sleep I will wake up and and she will be gone. I have loved her probably almost since the day I met her. I can't believe that my Babe is the woman I have spent the last eight years dreaming about. When we got her and the rest of her team out of Columbia I felt a connection to her like I have never felt before. I held her in my arms for only a few minutes but have never forgotten. She was badly beaten and looked like she was dead, hell for that matter they all did. But Steph took the worst of it because she was a female. When Jase and I worked together a few times I would ask how she was but he never said much. Now here we are over eight years later and she is mine. I will never have to wonder again.

Adding her to the core team is going to be a difficult adjustment, I just hope that none of the other guys give her a hard time. Sure they are going to think that I am doing this because we are together, but I have thought about this for a while. I guess at some point we are going to have to tell them the truth, once they see her in action hopefully any doubts any of them have will be squashed. Bombshell...wait until they all find out how true that nickname is. The guys on her team used to call her that, she had a knack for blowing things up even back then. Of course she was the one that used to set the bombs up, it was her specialty.

I looked over at Steph who was still sleeping and I decided to get up, it was now 4 am and it was useless trying to get any sleep now. I decided to go into my office and do some work then go for my morning run. I wonder how long it's going to take me until I can get her up and running with me.

When I woke up the next morning it was still pretty dark in Ranger's bedroom. I looked over at the clock and it was on 5am. Oh well I guess I better get used to being up early. As I was getting out of bed Ranger was coming out of the bathroom.

"Babe, your up early."

He sounded kind of surprised, he knows how much I hate mornings.

"You getting ready for your run?"

"Yeah, why you want to join me?"

I know he thought I was going to say no as usual, but Ha, I surprised him again.

"As a matter of fact I am going to join you. Don't look so shocked Batman I need to get my ass back into shape. Just take it easy on me today."

I got dressed and we took off for our run, we came back an hourly later and I wanted to die. I forgot how much I hate to run now, guess that's why I try to get out of it so much. Thinking back, I used to be able to run 10 miles at a time and not even think about it. It is going to take me a while to get back to that point.

Ranger got in the shower first, when he was done he told me to hurry because he already called Ella and ordered breakfast. I joined him at the breakfast bar a short time later.

"So Ranger how are things going to work now?"

"Well I have been thinking about the partner situation and having you and Jase as partners is not going to happen. I was thinking about making you Tank's partner and I would partner up with Lester, and putting Jase and Bobby together. What do you think?"

"You want me to partner with Tank?"

"Is there a problem with that, I think you two would do well together as partners."

"But he is your partner. I am also worried about the other guys, I get along with all of them but I worry they are going to hate me. I am going from doing searches and bounty hunting for Vinnie to being on your core team. I don't want them thinking that this is all happening because we are together."

"I thought about that as well Babe, they all know you are good at what you do. Would you be opposed to telling them about your past? They are going to find out eventually if you do decide to go back with the FBI."

"I have been thinking about that and I am not sure I want to do it, I mean it would take me away from here and I don't think I could stand being away from you that long. As for the guys, do you think it would make it easier?"

"Why don't we go down for the core team meeting and discuss the partner situation and then we can talk about telling the others."

"Sounds good Batman, now how about a kiss."

And boy did he kiss me, I don't know how much longer I am going to be able to take things slow with him. I know what it feels like to have his hands and tongue all over me, not to mention how he feels when he is inside of me.

Ranger slowly broke the kiss and led me to the elevators, we made our way to the conference room and the guys and my uncle Jack were already inside.

"Morning everyone, we have a lot to go over this morning so let's get started. Steph and I have been talking this morning and I have a few things I want to run by all of you. Jack I wanted you here because you are a partner in this company and I value your opinion. Originally I wanted to partner Steph and Jase, but that has to change."

"Let me partner with Bombshell." Tank said as he interrupted Ranger.

Before Ranger could say a word it was my turn. "Are you serious, you want to partner with me? Why?"

"Well for starters I am serious, and as for the why...why not? We have worked together in the past with your skips and I like working with you, there is never a dull moment with you around. You are a force to be reckoned with Bombshell, and I have just as much respect and faith in you as I do the other guys in this room."

"Wow, thank you Tank."

"Well Tank you actually took the words out of my mouth, I was going to ask you if you would partner with Steph. Lester I want you to partner with me and Jase with Bobby, is that okay with everyone?"

Every agreed that this was okay with them.

"Next order of business...Steph is worried about the other guys and we both think that maybe we should tell them about her past. What do you guys think?"

Lester spoke up first. "In all honesty it is completely up to you, all the guys respect you but sometimes they don't know how to take you."

"What do you mean Les?"

"You hate your gun, you don't want to get in shape and you hate anyone trying to take care of you. I guess what I am trying to say is that they live their lives the opposite way you live yours. We plan and you fly by the seat of your pants. I am not saying that is a bad thing because we all know you always get your man." He finished with a smile.

"I understand what you are saying and I think we should tell them, I don't ever want them having doubts about my abilities."

"Okay Babe. Now that is all settled do we have anything else that we need to talk about"?

"My training, I want to get back to and get in shape."

"I actually wanted to talk to you about that Steph. I was talking to Maggie last night and she wants to talk to you about coming down there. I have something for you, I always hoped I would be able to give it back to you."

My uncle came around the table and handed me a silver case, I knew what it had inside. It held three guns that used to go wherever I went. I opened the case and stared at its contents.

"What'cha got there Bomber?" A very curious Tanks asked me.

I turned the case and showed the guys.

"Wow, some nice guns you have there Steph. You carry them all?"

"Sure did Bobby."

"Hey Steph all that's missing is the knives." Joked Lester

"I liked the guns, the knives were all Mat's territory." As soon as the words left my mouth I felt sick to my stomach. I haven't thought about Mat in years, and by the look on Lester's face he could see that what I had just remembered bothered me. I had to get out of here and I I to do it now. "Uh...guys I will be right back, I need to run upstairs for something." And before any tears could fall I ran to the elevators and up to the 7th floor, once up there I let the tears start flowing for myself, Mat and our past.

_TBC_


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9 – Contains challenge response for the Warden says it best challenge on BBFF.

I heard the door to the apartment opened and I expected Ranger to come in, instead it was Lester.

"Steph are you ok?"

"I will be. I just haven't thought about Mat in a long time and then when you mentioned the knives it all came flooding back. Does Ranger know?"

"He knows a little bit of your history together but not all, I told him that I would come up and talk to you."

"Thanks Les, I think I just need to be alone for a while to think. Could you tell Ranger I am going for a ride and will be back in a little bit?"

"Sure, want to tell me where you are going?"

"I have no idea, I just need to think. I am going to take the Turbo, Ranger will know where to find me."

"No problem Bombshell. For what it's worth he loved you Steph and he still talks about you. I know that things will never be the same but maybe you should think about talking to him in the future."

"Maybe I will, I'll see you later."

Lester and I both got on the elevator he got off on 5 and I headed down to the garage. I jumped in the Turbo and decided to head to Point pleasant, being on the beach near the ocean always helps me clear my head.

As I sat here on the beach I thought back to when I first met Mat during basic training in the Army. Jase and I became fast friends with Mat, after about a year or so Mat and I had started dating, but secretly. If anyone had found out then we would have been separated. The three of us took the Rangers test together and we all passed and were placed on the same team along with two other guys, Tucker and Hunter. Mat used to tell us stories about his older brother Lester and that he was a Ranger also. When I decided to leave the Ranger team and take the test for the FBI, Mat wasn't ready to quit yet. The day I graduated from the academy we went out to celebrate, we were talking and Mat told me he wanted to marry me once he was done with his contract. Then came that last mission and I never saw him again after that. I really loved him but after everything that happened I couldn't go back...I need to forget and that is exactly what I did. Until today.

I don't know how long I had been sitting on the beach when I felt Ranger behind me, without turning around I reached my arm out for him and he came and sat beside me.

"Babe, are you okay?"

"Yeah. I just..." And I started crying once again.

Ranger just put his arms around me and held me until I stopped crying.

"I'm sorry I left like that, I just need some time to think. It really has been an emotionally draining couple of days."

"Steph, I understand. You have been through a lot, we all have a past. I know about you and Mat, he told us a little bit about the two of you."

"I want you to know that this doesn't change anything for me, you are who I want to spend my life with. Mat is part of my past, yes I was in love with him and going to make a life with him but you are my future."

"What do you say we get out of here?"

At that moment my stomach decided to voice it's opinion. I guess it was time to feed the beast.

"How did you get here?"

"I had Lester drop me off, I wasn't sure if you would feel up to driving back."

I stood up and offered Ranger a hand he stood up, I wrapped my arms around him and gave him a light kiss on the lips.

"Thank you Ric, I love you."

"Anything for you Babe."

"So do you want to get something to eat here or back in Trenton?"

"How about Pino's, I am in the mood for pizza."

We went to Pino's and thank God it was quiet, I didn't feel like dealing with anyone tonight. Ranger and I did some talking and after I had him drop me off at my apartment.

"You sure you don't want me to stay with you tonight?"

"Yeah, I will be fine. I will see you first thing in the morning. I am just really tired and after a shower I am just going to go to bed."

"Okay, Goodnight Babe. I love you."

"I love you to Ric, see you in the morning."

I made my way up to my apartment, showered and fell asleep instantly. I awoke the next morning to knocking on my front door. I checked the time on my clock...9:00am. I got out of bed and went to the door, I looked through the peephole and there was a delivery guy with flowers.

"Can I help you?" I asked before even opening the door, I have had one to many crazies after me not to check.

"I have a delivery for Ms. Plum from Mr. Manoso."

I opened the door and thanked the delivery guy, I asked him to wait a minute so I could tip him. He told me not to worry about it, it had already been taken care of. Should have known, Ranger thinks of everything. The flowers were absolutely beautiful it was a mix of roses in shades of hot pink, yellow and orange. I went to set them on the counter in the kitchen and found the card.

_Babe_,

"_**I was dead until you found me, though I breathed. I was sightless, though I could see. And then you came… and I was awakened." **_

_Love Always,_

_Ric_

I don't think I have ever received anything more beautiful than the words that he had written on that card. I called Ranger to thank him and tell him I was on my way in but all I got was voice mail, so I told him that I loved him and that I would see him later.

_TBC_


	10. Chapter 10

Contains challenge response from BB & Kym's the warden says it best challenge take 2

and

Challenge response for Annie & Kat's challenge on PP

Chapter 10

I headed on over to the bond's office with a side trip to the Tasty Pastry, to see if I had any new skips. When I parked out front I could see Connie and Lula in what looked like a very deep discussion.

"She is better off without him." I heard Connie say.

"No shit." Ah Lula, such a master with words.

I figured it was time to butt into the conversation. "So who is better off? If I have to take a guess you are talking about me?"

"Hey you! Get your skinny ass in here, of course we're talking about you. Word is you and supercop are over for good and Morelli's momma couldn't be happier."

"Yeah well I could care less what she thinks, that woman has never liked me not even when we were kids."

"So come on spill already, we haven't seen you in days."

"Well, Joe and I talked the other night and it is over for good. He is leaving in a few weeks for D.C., he took a job with the feds and asked me to go with him. I told him no and we decided that we are better off as friends."

"Well good for you Steph."

"Thanks Connie, it was time. Anyway things with Joe haven't been right in a long time, it was pointless to keep dragging things on."

"So are you gonna go after what you really want now?"

"What do you mean Lu?"

"I just meant that I think it's time that you..." Lula was looking out the window when she stopped talking so I assumed that Ranger was coming in but instead it was Tank and Jase. And of course Lula went right for Tank, they really are perfect for each other.

"So what are you two doing here?" I asked

"Ranger had a meeting this morning as asked me to bring Jase by and get his paperwork done so he can bring in skips with us. Jase I would like you to meet Lula and Connie. Jase here is going to be working with us from now on."

"Ladies, nice to meet you both." Of course Connie and Lula just nodded their heads and stared at him.

"Is he in?" Tank asked motioning to Vinnie's office.

"Yeah go on in, just be careful." And we all watched Tank and Jase go into the nastiness that is Vinnie's office, better them than me.

"So Connie, any files for me today?" She seemed to be in a daze, so I started snapping my fingers in her face. "Hellooooo Connie are you in there?"

"I'm sorry what did you say?"

"Files?"

"Oh yeah, I still have to sort through them. Does Ranger ever hire any guys that aren't good looking or built? And another thing, why didn't Tank introduce you to the new guy?"

"Well, as far as the good looking and built the answer is no and Jase...I have known him for a long time, he is an old family friend, my dad and his dad are friends." Thank God my cell started ringing before I had to answer any more questions. I looked at the display and saw it was Ranger calling.

"Yo."

"Back at ya Babe, are you still at the office?"

"Yeah, just waiting for some files."

"Meet me outside in five." And then as usual he hung up, typical Ranger.

"Be right back girls."

"Hey Ranger what's up?"

"Well I have an emergency meeting in New York and I wanted to let you know that I will be up there all day. I'll be taking Tank with me so I was wondering if you would take Jase with you today while you round up your skips?"

"Sure, Connie was just getting my files ready and told me that I will probably need a hand with one of them."

"Be careful, I have no idea what time we'll be back but I will give you a call later. Oh and could you grab the Rangeman skips as well?"

I just nodded my head yes, I knew the look he was giving me and I was in for one hell of a thank you. He leaned down and left me with a kiss that I soon wouldn't forget and another pair of ruined panties. When we finished the kiss he was looking at me with a smile and I wanted nothing more than to go home with him at that very moment.

"You know Ranger pretty soon I am going to start sending you my Victoria's Secret bills."

"I guess it's only fair, I mean you have ruined me so I guess ruining your panties is just my way of getting some payback."

I think my jaw hit the ground and then I heard someone behind me laughing and when I turned I saw Jase and Tank standing there.

"Can we help you boys?"

"Nope, I'm just happy you're happy."

"Thanks Jase, but I will get you back for this." Tank was still just standing there laughing. "Oh and Tank I will get you back as well."

"_**Good. That's good. The two of you are beautiful together. A fucking inspiration."**_

"Tank, what the hell are you talking about?"

"Well if you two can finally get together then there is hope for the rest of the world."

I just stood there and shook my head at him, I guess he did have a point. Ranger and I are both pretty damn stubborn when we want to be. I looked beyond Tank and Jase standing there to see Lula and Connie in the window watching everything that just took place, including the kiss with Ranger. Hopefully I can get in there and get my files quick before they start asking to many questions and Ranger and I.

"Jase, it looks like your payback is going to be today."

"What's that supposed to mean?" He looked a little scared. Ha, that will teach him to laugh at me.

"Well Tank has to go with Ranger today so you are going to ride shotgun with me, I have three skips to pick up today and you get to help."

I know that Jase knows all about my exploits as a bounty hunter and he actually looked scared for a second. Tank started laughing, I don't know why...he was next.

"Don't worry it won't be to bad today Jase, now when I take Tank with me I am going to make sure that I have to pick up good old Norvil Thompson or maybe even Punky Balog."

Now it was Tank's turn to look scared.

"Bye boys!" I walked away and back into the office, Jase and Tank were speechless while Ranger was treating us all with his rare laughter. Jase came in right behind me.

"Oh come on Jase, it can't be all bad, can it?"

"Hey it's still early yet, **i****t can only go downhill from here.**" I went to hit him in the shoulder and he jumped back. "I'm only kidding, I am looking forward to today."

"Asshole, come on let's grab the files and go back to Rangeman and see what we have."

TBC

**Vishous, pg. 186, Lover Revealed, The Black Dagger Brotherhood, Written by JR Ward**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

"Connie, do you have those files ready for us yet? Oh and I also need any Rangeman files you have ready."

"Just give me a few more minutes and I will have everything ready, in the mean time Jase do you want to start your paperwork?"

"Sure." Connie handed Jase a folder with a bunch of forms for him to fill out.

"Okay Steph I have three for you, and two for Rangeman." I took the files she was handing out to me.

"Thanks Connie, we are going to take off. I will see you girls tomorrow."

Jase and I went out to my car and made our way back to Rangeman chatting along the way.

"So what's up first?"

"Well I figure we can go back to Rangeman and find out any information we might need on my skips and then go to Pino's for lunch. After we can go get the skips."

It didn't take us to long to look up my skips and we were back in the car and off to Pino's. We found a booth in the back and ordered a large pizza and a couple of soda's.

"So Jase, do you think you are going like it here?"

"You know I think I will, it is going to be a big change but I am ready for it."

"Hiya Cupcake."

Shit where did he come from?? Joe was standing at our table and Eddie was right beside him.

"Hey Joe, Eddie."

"Hey Steph."

"So Cupcake are you in trouble again?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Well usually you are here with Ranger and when we see you with his other guys it usually means trouble."

"No Joe, no trouble. We are just here for lunch before we pick up my skips."

Eddie just took a good look at who I was sitting with and he looked surprised.

"Jase?"

Eddie and Marylou were the only two that knew of what happened in my life and they both knew Jase and Maggie. I wouldn't have made it through without the two of them talking to me when I needed it.

"Yeah Eddie, how the hell are you?"

"Good. How about yourself, you in town for a visit?"

"Nope, I am here to stay. I just took a job at Rangeman."

"Are you two partners?"

"This is all nice but Cupcake who the hell is this guy?"

"Joe Morelli meet Jase Romano. Jase is an old friend of mine."

"And Eddie just happens to know him?"

"You know what Joe, you don't know everything about my life. Don't you have some place to be?"

"I'm outta here, Eddie how about we meet up later?"

"Yeah, just call me and let me know about the party."

I don't even know if Joe heard him because he walked away and out the door so fast.

"So that is Joe Morelli?"

"Yup."

"Okay so let's go back a few steps, you are here working for Rangeman now?"

"I wanted a change and Ric offered me one so here I am. But, I am not her partner."

"Hey, what's wrong with being my partner?"

Eddie and Jase were just sitting there laughing and I both shot them a useless death glare.

"Tank is my partner, Ranger is now with Lester and the Ass next to you is partnered with Bobby. He is with me today helping with my skips."

"Sounds like fun, but what about everything else?"

"I told Ranger and the guys everything and I found out that Ranger, Tank, Lester and Bobby were on the team to get us out of Columbia. Ranger is the one who actually got me out."

"Small world."

"Can you stay for lunch or do you have to get back to work?"

"I gotta go back, Joe wanted to meet here and go over some plans for his party on Saturday night."

"Party for what?"

"I think he was trying to tell you about it when we came over here. He got a call and something big has come up and they need him to go down to DC by next Monday. We are throwing him a going away party on Saturday night."

I had already been thinking of the weekend and started planning. This was going to be a weekend just for Ric and I. I had already checked with Tank and had him clear Ric's schedule and I rented the Presidential suite at the Four Seasons Hotel in Philadelphia and made us reservations at the Fountain restaurant located at the Four Seasons.

"Well I already know I won't be able to make it."

"Oh really, anything special going on for the weekend?"

"Yes Jase as a matter of fact I do have plans and keep your mouth shut, it is going to be a surprise."

"Okay you two, I have to get back to the station. Jase we are going to have to catch up soon."

"Sounds good Eddie."

"So little sister, what do you have planned for the weekend?"

"That is none of your business, now let's eat this pizza and get some work done. I have some more planning to do."

"I thought your break up with Joe went good, he kind of acted jealous with you sitting here with me."

"It did but I guess he still worries about me, let's not talk about him anymore."

We finished our lunch and caught my three skips in under three hours. The rest of the week seemed to drag on, I just wanted the weekend to get here so I could be alone with Ric and not have any interruptions. I talked to Joe and explained to him that Jase is an old friend and Eddie had met him a few times when we were younger, and I told him that I wouldn't be able to make it to his party on Saturday. Between his schedule and mine our goodbyes were said over the phone. I found some time in between training to get to the mall and pick up a new dress and some lingerie to wear for the weekend. I had everything in my apartment packed and ready to go. Tank was picking me up at 4:00 to drive me into Philadelphia and drop me at the Four Seasons. I had Ella help me with Ric's clothes and Tank was bringing those with him. I left a note with the guys in the control to give to Ric as soon as he got in the building.

_**Ranger's POV**_

It has been a long week and all I want to do is grab Steph and take her to my house for the weekend. We could both use a little rest and relaxation. I have been trying to call her on her cell but she is not answering. Lester had called and told me that she left something for me in the control room and I couldn't seem to get there fast enough. I pulled into the garage and went directly to the control room, anxious to see what my Babe had left for me. Lester handed me the note as soon as the elevator doors opened, he then pushed me back in and sent to the 7th floor. I waited until I was in the apartment to read the note.

_Ric_

_There is something for you to wear in the bedroom, put it on and when you are ready there will be someone waiting for you downstairs to bring you to me._

_Don't be late_

_Love_

_Babe_

I couldn't wait to see what she had in store for me so I hurried in the shower and put on the suit she had left for me. I had a gift that I wanted to give to Steph, so I went into the safe and put it in my pocket. I went downstairs and sure enough there had been a black limo waiting for me. _What the hell is she up to_ I thought with a smile on my face.

"Good evening Mr. Manoso, I was instructed to bring you directly to Ms. Plum. If you are ready we can leave now."

With traffic it took a little over an hour and I was surprised when we stopped at the Four Seasons hotel and it was now 7:15.

"I was instructed to give you this when we arrived."

_Ric_

_Hopefully you are outside, go into the Fountain Restaurant and I will be waiting for you._

_Love_

_Babe_

I went in to the restaurant and was guided to a table where my Babe sat. She looked amazing.

"I see you found me." She had a smile on her face that lit up the place.

_Steph POV_

I saw him walk in and my jaw dropped, he looked even better than I thought he would.

"I see you found me."

"Babe. So what prompted this evening?"

"Well, I thought we could both do with some downtime after everything that has been going on and I thought this would be perfect. I have a room upstairs for the weekend." Ric's eyes instantly turned black.

"You really planned this out."

"Yes I did, I wanted to do something nice for you. What good is having money if you can't spend it." He gave me a raised eyebrow for that remark. "Any money I had made from doing missions was put into investments. My uncle Jack has overseen those investments for me, and there is quite a bit of money there. When I decided to start over I wanted nothing to do with the money, now that the truth is out I figured I deserve to spend some of it."

Our server had some over and brought us a wine list, Ric had picked out a fabulous Chardonnay. Dinner was amazing, Ric ordered Asian broiled red snapper fillet and I had the butter poached Maine lobster. I tried to keep my moans to a minimum but it was hard especially when dessert came, I had ordered a Dark chocolate raspberry mousse and it was to die for. We had talked throughout the meal and it was nice to know that it was just the two of us and no one from the Burg looking over our shoulders.

TBC


	12. Chapter 12

Smut warning!

Chapter 12

We finally made it to our room, and once we were in the door Ranger pulled me to him for a long deep kiss. He pulled away after a few minutes and started speaking.

"Babe I want you to stay with me forever, marry me?"

"What did you just say?"

"I said I want you to marry me. I have finally gotten you in my life and I'm not going to let go."

"You're serious?" He didn't answer me but pulled me back to him, kissing me. We went into the living room of the suite and he sat me down on the couch.

"Stephanie, I have never been more serious. No one has ever treated me the way you do, I understand now more than ever. Babe I don't know how or why but we were linked eight years ago and three years ago something brought us back together. I'll be damned if I am ever going to lose you again."

He got down on one knee and pulled a ring box out of his pocket, then he looked up at me. His eyes were full of passion, desire, lust and most importantly love. How could I say no to him, he is the reason I said no to Joe time and time again. He opened the box and there sat the most beautiful diamond ring I have ever laid my eyes on.

"Ric, I love you more than anyone will ever know or understand." By now I was crying and couldn't speak anymore.

"Is that a yes?" He asked with the most brilliant smile on his face.

"Yes."

Ric took my hand and slid the ring on, it fit perfectly.

"Come on, I think we need to take care of something even more important." He was giving me the wolf grin, and finally we were where we belonged.

"I think you are correct, lead the way."

Ric led me to the bedroom and lit the candles that I had put out when I first arrived. He walked over to me and kissed me with so much passion and fire, I thought I was going to explode. Slowly his hands came up around my neck to undo the clasp on my dress, and he slowly peeled it down, his lips following the dress. He then paused at my breasts, sucking each nipple until I was squirming against him. He let the dress fall to the floor and discover that the only thing under the dress was a garter belt and stockings, his hands continued their way down my body, completely ignoring the promise land frustrating me to no end. I wanted to have some fun with as well, it took everything I had but I finally managed to make my mouth work.

"Stop!"

"Babe, what's wrong?" Ric looked a bit worried.

"Nothings wrong, I just want to get in on the action."

I started giving him the same treatment he gave me, I slowly took his jacket off and threw it on a chair. Then I took off his tie and slowly unbuttoned his shirt kissing the skin I was coming in contact with. I stopped at his nipples and gave them the same treatment he gave mine. When I had his shirt off he told me it was my turn again. He gently laid me on the bed and kissed his way down my body, this time he went right for the promised land. My entire body was humming with need, I needed him to touch me everywhere but I knew that what I really needed was him inside of me. I knew it was going to be a while, I learned from our one night together so long ago that he likes to take his time.

His tongue was magic and I didn't want him to stop, I was moaning with delight while he was feasting on my juices. He suddenly thrust two fingers inside and I pushed against him as he curled his fingers. I felt my body tighten and I grabbed his hair and pulled him closer, I knew it was only going to be a few more seconds before I darted off into oblivion. And I was right, he just moved his tongue and fingers faster as I came screaming his name. As much as I had wanted to give him the same pleasure, I had this overwhelming need to have him inside of me.

"Ric, please stop, I need to feel you inside of me NOW!"

"Well then, I guess I should give you what you want, after all you did just agree to become my wife."

"MMMM your wife, I like the sound of that. Now hurry up and get those damn pants off."

"As you wish my love."

He was finally undressed and joined me on the bed, ever so slowly and inch by incredible inch he finally made his way inside of me. It was better than I had remembered, maybe it was because I knew he was mine now. Forever.

"Oh God Ric, you feel so good. I love you."

"I had almost forgotten how good you feel Babe, it has been way to long. I love you too."

He began thrusting into me using long measured strokes, I followed his rhythm and I brought my right leg up to hug around the middle of his back. I didn't think he could get any deeper, but at this angle it made it possible. I grabbed his head and kissed him, we were mimicking our lower body movements with our tongues. His thrusts quickened and I could feel my core heating up and starting to tingle and I cried out as I climaxed. He groaned and imminently followed and fell off to the side of the bed dragging me with him. We laid there in silence for a few minutes before either of us spoke.

"Steph are you still alive over there?" He was chuckling.

"Yes smart ass, I am alive. I was just thinking about taking advantage of that huge tub in the bathroom. Care to join me?"

I filled the tub and we both stepped in my back to his chest. I sat there with my hand out staring at my ring.

"If you don't like it we can pick something else out?"

"Are you kidding me? I absolutely love it, I was just thinking about marrying you and when."

"Are you worried about your mother?"

"No...Yes, once she finds out she is going to start planning a wedding." I turned to look at him. "If I could marry you right now I would."

"Would you?" At my confused look he continued. "I mean would you marry me right now?"

"In a heartbeat." My heart started beating a little faster thinking about where he was going with this.

"They why don't we, what's stopping us?"

"Are you really serious, we could get married now?"

"When have you ever known me to not be serious when I want to do something."

I was looking at him and I still couldn't believe that we were actually thinking about doing this.

"I have an idea, if you really want to do this now we can but not here. I would have to make a few calls, but it would be just the two of us if that is what you want."

"I really want to do this, I don't care what my mother thinks. She is the only one that will have a real problem with it. Wait, what about your family, won't they be upset?"

"We can have a party for our families in a few weeks."

"Okay, so where are we going?"

"I was thinking Vegas, I have a friend who has a suite at the Bellagio and they have a chapel at the hotel. We could leave tonight, catch some sleep on the plane and then tomorrow get married."

"This is crazy, how soon can we leave?"

"Let me get out of here and make a few calls, we can probably leave in two hours or so."

OHMIGOD! This time tomorrow I would be Mrs Ricardo Manoso and the thought didn't scare me at all.

TBC


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13 - contains challenge response for Jane on PP

Smut warning!

I was still in the bathroom trying to fix my hair and makeup when Ric came walking back in.

"Everything is all set, we have to be at the airport within the hour. Babe, you sure you still want to do this?" He asked with an uncertainty in his voice.

"Yup, I am just trying to figure out how you got this done so fast."

"I'm just that good."

"Smart ass. You know this is weird, when Joe asked me to marry him I ran as fast as I could. You ask me and now I am running as fast as I can to the alter. I guess I knew what I wanted all along."

"About time you realized it too."

"I'm ready when you are Batman."

Rangeman has it's own plane but we wound up taking a commercial flight. Ric didn't want to tip off any of the guys as to what we were doing. I slept for most of the flight and only awoke when the fasten seat belt sign blinked on. There was a car waiting for us when we got off the plane and it took us straight to the Bellagio, and then to the Grand Lakeview Suite.

"Well Babe what do you think?"

"This is amazing, I don't think I have ever seen a suite like this before."

"How about we get some sleep and then go find a dress for you and a suit for me."

"Sounds perfect."

After our little nap we fixed ourselves up and went down to the lobby to do some shopping. Ranger told me he had a surprise for me, I had no idea what it could have been until I heard a familiar voice.

"I thought you wanted to do this alone?"

"I did, but I thought it might be nice for you to have someone to help you."

"Thank you for always knowing what I need. I love you."

"So it's true, you two are getting married."

"Yes Lula it's true, I am so glad you are here. You are just what I need, you always seem to find me the perfect dress to wear. Hi Tank."

"Hey Bombshell, Congratulations to you both."

"Thanks, so are you ready to help me find a dress."

"You bet, let's get going we don't have much time."

"I'll call you when I am heading back to the suite for my hair appointment."

"Later Babe."

"Okay, so now they are gone how did this happen so fast?"

"I planned a weekend in Philadelphia for the two of us, starting with dinner at the Four Seasons. I also booked us a room there as well, when we got back up to our room we started talking and he proposed."

"That is one hell of a ring, how did getting married so soon and in Vegas come up?"

"We were talking about getting married and when and I told him that I dreaded telling my mother because she would want to plan the whole thing and fight me tooth and nail about the details. Then I told him that if I could marry him right now I would be happy. He suggested Vegas and here we are. How did you get here so fast?"

"Ranger called last night and told Tank what you two were doing and asked us to fly out to be witnesses and to share your special day, we are going to fly home with you two tomorrow. Now let's quit talking and find you a dress."

It was now a little after noon and I wanted the perfect dress, Lula being here was only going to help me. We went into a couple of shops not finding anything and then hit the jackpot in the last store.

"Girl, I have just found you the most perfect dress."

Lula held up the dress and she was right, it was a beautiful silk dress in ivory with a lace bodice, empire waist and a bias-cut charmeuse skirt. I found the sales woman and she helped me find the right size and took me to the dressing room, it was a perfect fit. I came out of the dressing room to show Lula.

"See Steph, I knew I was right that dress was made for you. Now we just need to find you some shoes."

After finding a beautiful pair of heels, I also managed to find a beautiful see through baby doll nightie that I planned on wearing when we went back to our suite after the ceremony. I called Ranger on his cell and told him that we were going back up to the room to meet the stylist for my hair appointment. Once finished Lula went to her room to get ready and we decided to all meet in the chapel.

By the time we were both finished it was getting closer to 8 o'clock and time for me to become Mrs. Manoso.

"Babe, you look amazing."

"So do you, want to get married?"

"Only if it's to you."

"Well then I guess tonight is your lucky night."

We made our way down to the chapel and I still wasn't feeling nervous, which made me see once again that this is really what I wanted.

"Mr. Manoso and Ms. Plum I presume?" A very nice looking older gentleman approached us.

I answered. "Yes, that's us and this is Thomas Greene and Lula Granger our witnesses.

"I am Henry Ballister and I just have a few things that I need you all to sign and then we can get started."

"Okay then, it looks like we are all set."

We all took our positions at the front of the chapel and Mr. Ballister began the ceremony.

"_We are gathered here today in the presence of these witnesses, to join Stephanie and Ricardo in matrimony which is commended to be honorable among all men; and therefore is not by any to be entered into unadvisedly or lightly but reverently, discreetly, advisedly and solemnly. Into this holy estate these two person present now come come to be joined. If any person can show just cause why they may not be joined together let them speak now or forever hold their peace."_

"Now I will ask both of you to recite your vows, Ricardo please repeat after me."

"_I, Ricardo, take you Stephanie to be my wife, my partner in life and my one true love. I will cherish our friendship and love you today, tomorrow, and forever. I will trust you and honor you, I will laugh with you and cry with you. I will love you faithfully through the best and the worst, through the difficult and the easy. What may come I will always be there. As I have given you my hand to hold so I give you my life to keep so help me God."_

"Now Stephanie, please repeat after me."

"_I, Stephanie, take you Ricardo to be my husband, my partner in life and my one true love. I will cherish our friendship and love you today, tomorrow, and forever. I will trust you and honor you, I will laugh with you and cry with you. I will love you faithfully through the best and the worst, through the difficult and the easy. What may come I will always be there. As I have given you my hand to hold so I give you my life to keep so help me God."_

By the end I could hardly speak I was so overcome with emotion and tears.

"Now can I have the rings please?"

Lula and Tank handed him the rings.

"Ricardo take this ring and repeat after me." He handed him the ring.

Ric took my shaking hand and began.

"_I give you this ring as a symbol of my love and faithfulness. As I place it on your finger, I commit my hear and soul to you. I ask you to wear this ring as a reminder of the vows we have spoken today, our wedding day."_

"Stephanie would you please do the same."

"_I give you this ring as a symbol of my love and faithfulness. As I place it on your finger, I commit my hear and soul to you. I ask you to wear this ring as a reminder of the vows we have spoken today, our wedding day."_

When we were finished we didn't let go of each other.

"By the power vested in me by the State of Nevada, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride."

Ric leaned in and kissed me, I didn't want him to stop. Now I wish we were alone so we could go back to our suite and celebrate alone, but Tank and Lula were with us. We were all going to go Picasso for a late dinner and then we were going our separate ways and meet up in the late morning for brunch before we leave for home. Dinner was amazing and we all had a great time, but I was eager to get the hell out of there. Finally we finished and said our goodbyes.

"So Mrs. Manoso are you ready to go to our suite and have a private party?"

"You bet your sweet ass I am, I have been ready since we said our vows."

As soon as we got to our suite, I excused myself and went into the bathroom to change.

"Be right back." I gave him a mischievous smile and a wink.

"Hurry."

When I was finished I came out and just stared at him, I still can't believe he is all mine now.

"Hey, what are you..." He started to say, but then he got a look at what I was wearing and the words seemed to stop. "You look amazing, now come over here so I can properly inspect this little scrap of material you have on."

"Steph, do you even realize how much I love you or how happy you have made me?"

"I think I do, because I feel the same way."

Words were no longer needed as we let the passion we felt for each other take over.

"Your beautiful." He murmured as he bent down capturing my lips in his.

The kiss is soft and gentle at first, but then we can both feel our desire for one another take over. I moaned and wrapped myself around him as our kiss went deeper. We pull apart both feeling the need for oxygen and he is standing there staring at me.

"Stop staring, I need to feel you." I tell him in a husky voice.

His hands feel like they are setting my body on fire as they make their way up and down, stopping only for seconds as they pass my breasts.

"Your mine now Stephanie, and I am never going to let go."

He leads me to the bed and slowly removes the _scrap of material_ and lays me down on the bed. He follows me down and starts kissing my neck working his way slowly down to my breasts, he takes one nipple in his mouth and the other in his hand, I am ready to explode.

He must have sensed my need and he looked up with a wicked gleam in his eyes. "You are going down tonight, I am going to pleasure you until you can't stand it anymore." He told me giving me an evil smile.

"But I am ready for you now." I could barely get the words out with the exquisite torture my body was receiving.

As soon as the words left my mouth his hands traveled down and found out how ready I was for him.

"You weren't kidding about being ready, are you this wet for me?" he was asking as his fingers slid up and down slowly between my legs. His mouth left my breast and made its way slowly down my body, kissing, licking, nipping along the way. When he finally put his mouth where I really wanted it I thought I would lose my mind. Between his fingers and his tongue I knew that it wouldn't be long before I finally had an orgasm. But Ric had other plans and as soon as he felt me tighten up he stopped and withdrew his fingers and took his mouth away. I looked at him like he was some kind of insane maniac.

"What are you doing, why did you stop?" I managed to choke out.

"Oh this is payback time Babe, you didn't think I was going to forget did you?" And then he slowly made his way back up my body the same way he went down.

Ah yes I seem to remember him promising to pay me back for the torture I put him through last night.

"Christ, I am not going to make it through the night." Ric stopped what he was doing once again and threw his head back laughing.

"Forget it, your not Batman, your the devil." This statement only made him laugh harder.

"**Just lie back and relax. This won't hurt a bit, I promise**."

I don't know how much time had passed that I had been taking his sweet torture, moaning and writhing on the bed but it had reduced me to begging.

"Ric please!"

"Please what my love?"

"Please just let me come, I don't think I can take much more of this and I need to feel you inside of me."

I saw something shift in his eyes and he sprung into action, fingers plunging into me and his tongue licking me until I came screaming his name. He kissed me deeply and slid into me at the same time, instantly giving me another orgasm. He started plunging in and out, we were both moaning and couldn't seem to get enough of one another. We were both moaning in delight when I started to fell his body tensing over mine and I knew he wasn't far off, within minutes we were screaming out each other names both riding on the waves of ecstasy.

"Babe, you never fail to amaze me. I love you."

"I love you too, but like I said earlier forget Batman I think I need to start calling you Satan."

TBC

Let me know what you think, good, bad...should I continue?


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

smut warning!

I was more nervous on the flight home than I was going to Vegas and the cause...we were going directly to my parents house from the airport. I wanted to be the one to tell them, if my mother would have heard it from the Burg first I am sure that I would never see another Pineapple upside down cake again, I may not anyway once I tell her that Ric and I ran off to Vegas and got married.

"I smell rubber burning Babe." Ric looked at me and laughed, he knew exactly what was going through my head. Stupid ESP!

"My mother is not going to take this well, she thinks I belong with Joe. Why can't she just understand that is not the life I want, I am not Val."

"Are you really that worried about it?"

"No, I love you and I can't even begin to explain to you what it means to me to be your wife. But my mother won't care, she has never cared what I wanted. When I flew off the garage and broke my leg, she lied to people about what really happened. She was embarrassed, she still gets that way now."

We were both silent for a bit. "You know what" he turned to look at me. "I don't care what she thinks, she can either except our marriage or I am out of there. I am so tired of fighting with her over my life."

"Proud of you Babe."

We landed around 5 pm and made our way from Newark airport to my parents house, there was no traffic and we made it there in just over an hour. We pulled up and I could see the Kloughn car parked in the driveway, my mother had no idea that we were coming. Walking up the steps and into the house was not something I wanted to do, but with Ric by my side I knew I could so anything.

"Mom." I called into the house once we entered.

She came out from the dining room. "Stephanie, I wasn't expecting you. I left you several messages about joining us for dinner tonight."

"Sorry mom, but we went out of town for the weekend."

"Why don't the two of you join us for dessert, I have pineapple upside down cake."

"Sure."

"Hey Steph, nice of you to join us."

"Well Val, I was out of town and didn't have my phone with me." Oh this is going to turn out just wonderfully. I looked at Ric and he was already talking to my dad.

"What is that?" Val asked pointing at my hand.

"That is why I am here. Ric and I..."

"Your getting married! What about Joseph?"

"No mom, we aren't getting married. We are already married, you can accept it or not I really don't care anymore. I am tired of you putting me and my decisions about my life down. As for Joe, well he is not what I want. He asked me to go to DC with him and I told him no, I will always love Joe but not in the way that he needs or wants. I have been denying myself what I really want because of expectations of me and I almost lost the most important person in my life."

My mother looked at me for second then Ric, she turned and went into the kitchen. No doubt to have a drink, guess she is not to happy with my news.

"How could you talk to mom like that?" Val asked incredulously.

"Stay out of this Val, I am not going to do this with you right now."

"Yes you are, I am sick and tired of you always doing what you want and never caring about anyone's feelings."

At this point Albert took the three girls out to the backyard to play, guess he knew shit was going to hit the fan.

"Excuse me? What are you talking about? If you remember I tried to do the whole Burg thing, I got married and what did I get for it? My husband screwing Joyce, do you feel the same way mom does? That I couldn't keep my husband satisfied, because that would be rich coming from you. Where is Steve now? The same thing happened to you and what did mom do? She took you and the girls in and made a home for you here, she welcomed you back with open arms. Me? She belittled me and was embarrassed because my husband was caught cheating."

"That is not my fault, so what are you going to do now? Walk out on your family? I guess you can since you have another one you can run to."

"You know Val, you sound like a jealous bitch to me. You have no idea what I have been through, but right now I am going to let you in on a little bit of it. Do you remember when I went to college?" She nodded. "Well that wasn't exactly the truth, I joined the Army with Jase and was in for 5 years. I also joined the Rangers and was damn good at what I did. When I was ready to get out I had already gotten a job with the FBI, but I was asked to help out my team one last time. Do you know what I got for helping? We were all captured, tortured, beaten and then I was raped. My whole entire life changed, I spent almost a year going through all kinds of therapy to heal my body physically and emotionally. So if I sound selfish to you then so be it, but do me one favor and stay away from me."

Val just sat there staring at me and not saying a word, I turned to walk out the door and saw my mom standing there with tears in her eyes, I wanted to say something to her but I couldn't. These last 8 years she never knew what really happened to me and today she found out the truth. My dad came over and gave me a hug and I apologized to him for my outburst, I grabbed Ric's arm and got out of there before I completely lost it.

"Can we go home now?"

"Yeah Babe, let's go."

We pulled into the garage at the Rangeman building a few minutes later, I felt horrible and disgusted with myself. I jumped when Ric opened the car door for me, so lost in thought that I didn't even realize he was out of the car.

"Babe, are you alright?"

"Yeah, can we just bypass the guys tonight and tell them all tomorrow. I just want to go upstairs, take a shower and go to bed."

"Let's go."

Once upstairs he called Ella and asked for a light dinner for the two of us and I went to take a shower. I started thinking about everything that happened and slid down the shower wall hugging my knees and crying. The next thing I knew I was being lifted in strong arms and settled into the tub, Ric just held me and let me cry it all out. When we were finished, he wrapped me in a towel and then dried my hair. At some point Ella had brought up a tray of food for us, I picked at it not really having much of an appetite.

"I'm not really hungry, I think I am going to turn in for the night."

"Come on, I'll tuck you in."

"Will you stay and hold me, I don't want to be alone."

Sometime later, I was still laying there in Ric's arms. I looked up at him, he looked so peaceful. I put my hand on his face and caressed his cheek then gently placed a kiss on his lips. He awoke and started rubbing my back, I needed him right now. I wanted him to take away all of the pain I was feeling, he must have read my mind as I felt his hands start to roam my body. We started kissing more deeply and I flipped him onto his back, I needed to be in charge and I think Ranger understood. I started kissing his neck and worked my way down his body which really is a work of perfection. I could feel him hot and hard against my body as I slid down to where I wanted to be and as soon as I reached my destination I took him in my mouth greedily.

"God, Babe don't stop...please." I could hear Ric moaning, he had both hands wound in my hair and his body was writhing on the bed.

I knew he was getting close so I slowed down what I was doing, once he relaxed I started going faster again. This time I didn't stop and I could feel his whole body tense as he released himself into my mouth, I kept it up until I knew he was finished.

"Jesus Christ Babe, I think you were trying to kill me."

I laughed and gave him a wicked grin as I slowly made my way back up his body, kissing, licking and biting along the way. I straddled his hips and I could feel him hard against me.

"This is gonna be nice and slow Batman." I told him as I slowly lowered myself onto his hardness.

He sat up and wrapped his arms around me as I wrapped my legs around him and our mouths met for a passion filled kiss. I don't know how long we sat there rocking against each other but it felt like forever when I finally felt the tingling below, foreheads together looking into each other's eyes we fell over the edge together. We sat there in that position for a while when finally we got up and headed into the bathroom for another shower and another round of making love. I don't think I will ever get enough of this man.

As I lay in bed falling asleep in his arms I think about what I had learned about my husband this weekend. We talked a lot about his family and he told me all about, his parents, Grace and Carlos are very family oriented and try to have the whole family together a couple of time a month. He has two brothers, Christian and Marco and three sisters Celia, Sofia and Marina, all are married and have children of their own with the exception of Marco and Marina, who were twins. My last thoughts as I drift off to sleep is how much I am looking forward to meeting his family, especially his parents. Without them, I wouldn't have my other half, my soul mate.

**Ranger's POV**

The woman in my arms never fails to surprise me, I had no idea that when I asked her to be my wife that we would be married this quickly. She has no idea how happy she has made me, I wish I could take away all of the pain that she had to go through not only from tonight but what happened to her in the past. She didn't deserve what that dickhead of an ex-husband did to her and she definitely didn't deserve Morelli's crap either. Her mother and sister are a different story, they will never understand what or who Steph is all about. She doesn't want to be like them, it isn't in her blood. My Babe has to much of her father in her, both of them actually and I am going to make sure that Mrs. Plum and Val never hurt her again.

TBC


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

I woke up early on Monday morning, after last night I needed some happy. Going down and telling the guys what happened this weekend is going to be fun, I can't wait to see the looks on their faces.

"Morning Babe."

"Morning, what time is it?"

"Almost 7:30, Ella will be up with our breakfast soon."

I shot out of bed to get ready for the day. I hurried through the shower and did the hair and make-up thing and dressed like Ranger today. I wanted to hurry, for some reason I wanted Ella to be the first to know about Ranger and I.

"You seem like you are in a better mood this morning?"

"Yeah well, I am looking forward to telling all of the guys and seeing the looks on their faces. Not to mention Ella, maybe when she finds out what happened she will adopt me."

"Babe." I could see the smile break out on his face. I just shrugged my shoulders.

I heard a knock at the door and Ella come in saying good morning.

"Morning Ella."

"Good morning, you look quite happy this morning."

"Ella we are going to be making some changes around here and I am going to need your help."

She looked at me then at Ranger. "Are you moving in?" She sounded so happy.

"Go ahead Babe tell her." Ella was beginning to look confused. So I just held up my left hand.

Looking at Ranger. "You finally got your head out of your ass?"

"Ella!" I couldn't stop the giggles that were working their way out.

"What? Do you know how long I have been after him to not let you go? I have never seen him as happy as he is when you are around. So when is the big day?"

"I think you better look at my hand again." I held it our for her again. "We were married on Saturday night in Vegas."

"Congratulations to you both, I am so happy for you."

"Don't say anything to the guys yet, Tank is the only one that knows."

"Not a word, I have to get going but I will make sure to have a special treat for you later."

"Thank you Ella."

Ella left and we sat down to eat breakfast.

"Have you talked to Maggie about your visit?"

"No, I have to call her today. I know what I want to do, and I don't want to go back. I want to continue to work for Rangeman."

"You sure?"

"Yes. Now how do you think the guys are going to react to our news?"

"I have a feeling someone is about to win a lot of money." He told me while starting to laugh.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"These guys don't bet on you, they bet on me and it all started right after I met you. I know for a fact they have a bet on, as Ella so eloquently put it, _"when I would get my head out of my ass"_ when it came to you."

"You can't be serious?"

"Completely."

"Well then let's go downstairs and see what's up, I bet you Lester is the first to say something about this weekend."

"I can't take that bet, we both know it's true."

"So what are we betting here batman?"

"What do you suggest?"

I thought about it for a minute before the perfect thing came to mind.

"If I win the bet, you have to let me eat whatever junk I want for a week and you can't complain at all. And one meal a day, at my choosing, you will have to eat what I do."

"And if I win?"

I knew I could be treading on thin ice here but all is fair in love and war. "Whatever you want."

"Okay then, you have to run with me every morning and workout in the gym after for a whole week. And one meal a day, at my choosing, you will have to eat what I do."

"Your on Batman, but you are so going to lose this bet."

"You better be ready to run in the morning, Wonder Woman."

We made our way down to the 5th floor and I was laughing the whole way, when we stepped off it was pretty quiet but I knew most of the guys were in the conference room waiting for us. I could hear the guys once we got closer and they were laughing and I heard the word _bet_ mentioned a few times which only made me laugh harder. I got myself under control before we walked in.

"Gentlemen." One word from Ranger and silence.

We were greeted with choruses of morning Bombshell and Boss.

"Bombshell, I must say you are looking pretty fabulous this morning. Must have been one hell of a weekend, next time you need a weekend away let me know. I bet I am a lot more fun than Mr. Personality over there."

The laughter that I had under control started to bubble over again and the guys were looking at me like I was crazy, okay so most of the time I am a little crazy.

"Lester I don't think that's ever going to happen, my husband would never let me go."

The looks on all of their faces was already making me feel better.

"What do you mean husband?"

"Well Jase, Ranger asked me to marry him on Friday night."

Congratulations came at us from all around the room.

"That's okay Bombshell we will just have our getaway before you get married."

"Not gonna happen Les, on Saturday night she actually married me."

I went over to Lester and showed him my left hand.

"Holy shit, you finally did it."

"So who won the bet?"

I looked at Ranger and he was standing there smiling at me.

"Yeah Les, tell us who won the bet? I have a bet myself riding on this one?"

"What do you mean Bombshell?"

"Well Ranger told me that you guys are always betting on him, so this morning we made our own bet. Ranger doesn't think that any of you bet that we would run off to Vegas and get married, and I say that someone did."

"I can't believe that you two bet on all of us." Lester was trying to act shocked but the cocky smile ruined it.

"Hey you bet on me all the time. So come on tell us who won the bet."

"Well I think I should get all the participants in here first, what did you two bet anyway?"

"Let's just say it's a battle between junk and exercise."

"Oh look here comes the last participant." In walked Ella, I had to win this one.

Ranger had a pained look in his eyes, and once again my laughter returned. Lester pulled out a notebook and started looking through it.

"We have a winner." Lester announced. "Ella."

"Ha, I knew it, you so owe me Batman."

Everyone cleared from the room with the exception of the core team.

"So you two really got married this weekend?"

"Yup, Tank was there ask him."

Jase, Lester and Bobby swiveled their chairs to look at Tank.

"They needed witnesses so Lula and I flew out Saturday afternoon."

"Steph, how did aunt Ellen take the news?"

"Let's not go there Jase, she will probably never speak to me again after last night. I really don't want to think about it, let alone talk about it right now."

There was a quick knock at the door and then my uncle Jack came in.

"Hope I'm not disturbing anything. I brought a guest with me."

And in walks my sister Maggie.

"Hey guys, looks like a party in here."

I walked over to give her a hug. "I can't believe you are here."

"Yeah well I pulled a case about a month ago and now it has led me here, I was told to meet my new partner here. Rangeman is going to assist us with the case."

Ranger picked up where Maggie left off.

"I received the paperwork on Friday everything is ready. Steph, I want you to take lead on this one with Tank."

"Seriously, why me?"

"Because I trust you, and I know you can handle it."

"Thank you, when do we get started?"

"As soon as my partner gets here. Ric there is something different about you, you almost look dare I say the word happy?"

"Guess that's what happens when I pull my head out of my ass."

That was all it took to have us all back to laughing again.

"Okay can someone please tell me what is going on here?"

"Ranger and I got married this weekend." I managed to get out between laughs.

"Well congratulations to you both."

"Thank you, so Maggie do you know your partner?"

"I know his name if that's what you mean."

She was acting a little strangely when she answered.

"Well..."

Just as I was about to ask what his name was Woody came in.

"Boss just wanted to let you know that Morelli is here."

Shit.

"Maggie please don't say what I think you are about to say."

"That would be my new partner."

"Fuck"

"Send him in Woody." Ranger said while not looking to happy.

TBC


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Response for The Evil Tart's _Nothing But Time on My Hand's Challenge_

Still not mine, just writing for fun

I looked up to see Joe walking in the door and Eddie trailing behind him. All I could so was pray that there would be no blood shed this morning.

"Hey Joe, Eddie."

"Morning Steph, looks like we will be working together on this one. Eddie is here as the lead detective on the case." Joe looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here, and he used my first name. I was starting to feel sick to my stomach, I wanted to be the one to tell Joe not the damn Burg grapevine.

Maggie stood up and went over to Joe and stuck out her hand. "You must be my new partner." He shook her hand.

"Joe Morelli, nice to meet you. This is Detective Eddie Gazarra."

"Maggie Romano. I don't know if you know this or not but Rangeman has been contracted on this one, we will be working mostly with Steph and Tank." She then walked over to Eddie and pulled him into a hug. "Eddie it has been years, how are you?" Joe just stood there with a look of shock on his face.

"Doing good Mags, and your right it has been way to long."

"Why is Steph the lead on this one? This is a big case Ranger, we can't afford any screw ups." Joe looked downright pissed off.

"What are you trying to say Joe? You don't trust me? _**Well thank you very much Joe, it's very nice of you. You vote of confidence is overwhelming**_. I can handle this case just fine, if you have a problem with that then maybe you shouldn't be here."

"Steph..."

"We need to talk, would you all mind giving us a few minutes?" I asked.

After everyone left the room I started in on Joe.

"What the hell is your problem Morelli?"

"My problem? Let me think. You and I were together for almost three years," I looked at him like he was crazy. "Okay, so we were off and on for almost three years. I asked you to marry me and you wouldn't, now I find out that you married Ranger!" He was starting to yell, and I cut him off.

"First of Morelli, you and I both know that we were not good together. YOU, even admitted as much the night of our final break up, YOU, were the one that told me that Ranger was the man for me and now you are pissed because we are together? I didn't marry Ranger to hurt you, when he asked me it felt right."

"And when I asked you?"

"Joe..."

"Come on Steph, for once in our lives let's be honest with each other." I could see the hurt in his eyes.

"When I married Dickie it was because that's what I thought I had to do. My mother had expectations of me to be just like Val, get married and have kids. She was so happy when I told her Dickie proposed, but I wasn't. We all know how well my marriage turned out. When you asked me to marry you I knew in my heart of hearts it wasn't what I wanted, I didn't want to get married again...Ever. Joe I am not who you need and I would never be able to be who you want."

"And Ranger?" Joe asked.

"Ranger and I have a connection, I have felt it since the first time I met him. I am sorry if this hurts you but it is the truth, he has never asked me to change or quit my job to become a housewife and mother and he never will. If someday we decide to have a baby it will be because it is what we want, not because it is what is expected of us."

"Cupcake, I'm sorry for acting the way I did. It's just that for a long time I thought it would be us getting married and starting a family. I never thought that things would end up like this, but I guess it is for the best. I can see how happy he makes you and that is what matters."

"Thanks Joe, it means a lot to me that you said that. I want you in my life, you are to important to me to lose as a friend." I got up and gave him a hug.

"I take it things didn't go as well at your parents last night?"

"Last night was worse than even I could have imagined. My dad was happy and so was Grandma Mazur, but my mom and Val were fit to be tied. Let's just leave it at that for now, the less I have to think of either of them the better. Guess we better get the rest of them back in here and start on this case."

I went out and got the rest of the team and Maggie started explaining the case to us.

"About 6 months ago a woman was kidnapped from a nightclub called Shampoo in Philadelphia, since then there have been a dozen others in Philadelphia,New York and Trenton, all taken from various nightclubs. A few of the women have turned up dead, their bodies were badly beaten, they were savagely raped and tox screens showed heavy doses of heroin. We found the body of one of the victims on Saturday night dumped on Stark Street, she is not the first body to be dumped in this area, that is why we are going to concentrate our investigation here. I can give you the details that I know off the top of my head but the official files won't be here until tomorrow." Maggie explained to us and she seemed nervous when she told us about the files.

"Why don't you have them with you, what is the holdup?" I asked.

"My boss..." Maggie stopped and it seemed she didn't know how to say what she needed to say.

"You mean Davis?" Joe asked.

"Yes, Tucker Davis." Maggie answered.

I suddenly knew why Maggie was having a hard time, I haven't thought about Tucker in a long time. He was part of our team and I have not seen him since we were rescued, but Maggie knew that neither Jase or I got along with him.

"Tucker wanted to go over the files one last time, he will be coming up in the morning to meet with us and go over everything."

"Shit." I heard Jase ground out.

"I take it you know him Jase?" Joe asked.

"Yeah, he was on my Ranger's team. We never got along, why is he doing this Mags?"

"I have no idea." She responded.

"I am going to head over to the station and see what they have on the latest victim. Joe, Maggie do you want to come along?" Eddie asked.

"Might as well, maybe we can get started on the victim that was found on Saturday night." Joe responded and Maggie shook her head and got up to go with the guys.

"Maggie wait, where are you staying?" I asked.

"I am staying here on the 4th floor." She said with a smile that seemed to be pointed at Lester.

Hmmm, I am going to have to have a talk with my big sister and see what is going on there. Once they were gone we started talking about Tucker and why he was really coming to Trenton.

"Why is he really coming here? Maybe I should sit this one out, I don't want to be in any kind of contact with Tucker."

"Steph, don't worry about him. He doesn't know who you are, he is probably doing this to rattle my cage. Any time I have worked with him in the past he has been an ass, he does anything he can to get under my skin." Jase told me.

"If your sure, I just don't want him finding out who I really am."

Ranger came over and wrapped me in his arms. "Babe, everything is going to be okay." He lifted my chin so I was looking him in the eyes. "I promise."

I wish I could believe him, but something was telling me that this whole situation was going to be bad.

TBC


	17. Chapter 17

Other chapter can be found Here

Thank you ladies for the wonderful reviews!

Chapter 17

I went to the office alone, Tank knew it was going to turn into a gab fest about Ranger and I. I am sure he is right. I couldn't stop thinking about Tucker on the drive to the office, what I really wanted to know is why was he delivering the files himself? Maybe Jase was right and he just wanted to get under his skin, but I think something else is going on. The ringing of my cell phone brought me out of my thoughts, I checked to see who it was first...Mary Lou.

"Hey Mare." I said when I answered the phone.

"Stephanie Michelle Plum, wait I guess it's Manoso now isn't it?" And she started laughing. "So are you really married to Ranger?"

"Yup, listen I am on my way to the office right now, why don't you meet me for lunch at Pino's around 1?"

"Sounds good, you better spill everything when I get there."

"I will Mare I promise."

I hung up with her just as I got to the office and then called Maggie to see if she wanted to join us for lunch as well. She did and told me that she would have Joe drop her off at Vinnie's.

"Morning ladies."

"Bout time you got your skinny ass in here."

"Yeah, now get over here and tell us all about it." Connie said to me.

I looked over at Lula shocked that she didn't already spill the beans.

"What is that look for?" Connie asked me.

"Well Lula...she was...shit. Ranger flew Lula and Tank in for the ceremony, please don't be mad Connie."

"Why would I be mad, Steph I am happy for the two of you." Connie responded with a smile.

"Thank you, I just don't want anyone to be mad."

"So, come on and tell me all about it. I thought you two were going to Philly for the weekend?"

"We were, and after dinner Ranger proposed and I told him that I would marry him that night if I could. You know Batman, he had us on a plane to Vegas in a couple of hours. Saturday morning he surprised me with Tank and Lula, Lu and I did some shopping and then we got married that night in the chapel at the Bellagio. Afterwards we had dinner, did some dancing and then went to enjoy our first night as a married couple. We came home yesterday, looking back I wish we could have stayed." I told Connie and the anger from last night at my parents was returning.

"Steph, are you okay?" Connie asked.

"Yeah, last night at my parents didn't go to good. And before either of you ask, no I don't want to talk about it."

Connie, Lula and I sat around talking for a while until Vinnie came into the office.

"This is not a place for gossip, get to work." Vinnie screeched at us.

"Shut up!" All three of us said to Vinnie.

"Uh-oh, here comes trouble." Lula said to us.

Connie and turned to look and see who was coming in...Joyce. She was dressed in all leather and looked like a dominatrix, guess it was Vinnie's perverted sex day...Oh wait that's everyday, I shivered at my own thoughts.

Joyce walked over to me and started laughing.

"What the fuck is your problem Joyce?" I asked, getting pissed off.

"I hear Morelli dumped your ass...again." And the bitch continued to laugh

"Yeah well she don't need that Ass Morelli, she's got something better. Isn't that right Mrs. Manoso?" Lula said to Joyce with a huge smile on her face.

"Yeah right, Ranger would never stoop so low as to marry this fat ass." Joyce said to me.

"Speak of the devil, here comes Morelli now and damn look at the woman he has with him. Looks like you lost your chance Joyce." Connie said to her with a smirk.

"Is there a problem here ladies?" Joe asked with a smirk on his face as he walked in the door with Maggie right behind him.

Joyce just huffed and stormed into Vinnie's office.

"Hey Joe, Maggie. Maggie, I would like you to meet Connie Rossoli and Lula Granger. Connie, Lula this is Maggie Romano."

I turned to Joe. "Did you two finish down at the station already?"

"Not yet, but I wanted to drop Maggie off before I started in on anything else. We still meeting back at Rangeman at 3?" Joe wanted to know.

"As far as I know we are." I answered him.

"Great, see you two then." And Joe was out the door.

"Well girls we gotta run, we are having lunch and then have to be back at Rangeman. I will stop by later in the week, thanks for the files Connie."

Maggie and I made our way to my truck and started our way over to Pino's to meet Mary Lou when my cell phone started ringing.

"Hello." I said without even looking to see who it was.

"Hey Steph," Mare said. "bad news. I just got a call from school and the boys are in the nurses office with what looks like the start of chicken pox."

"Oh Mare, I'm sorry. I hope they are okay, call me later and let me know how they are doing or if you just need to talk."

"Thanks Steph, I will." And she disconnected.

"Mare won't be joining us, she has to get the boys from school."

Maggie and I had a great time at lunch, we were stopped by a couple of cops that I know and they congratulated me on my marriage to Ranger. I told her all about the wedding and filled her in on everything else that has been going on the last couple of weeks. At 2:00 we decided to head back over to Rangeman, and see if Joe had come up with any new leads from the newest body found over the weekend.

When we arrived we went straight to the 5th floor and Binky told us that the guys were in Ranger's office. Maggie and I went over and I knocked.

"Enter."

"Hey Ranger, we just got back and..." Looking around the room I saw someone who should definitely not be there and it made me lose all train of thought.

"Babe, are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

"Steph, I would like you to meet Tucker Davis, Tucker my wife Stephanie."

All I wanted to do was run as fast and far away as I could from Ranger's office.

TBC.


	18. Chapter 18

Thank you for the reviews. I know it has been a long while since I updated this story, but my muse has decided to take a long vacation.

Chapter 18

"Nice to meet you Mr. Davis."

"Tucker please." he responded.

"Ranger, I need to talk to you about a couple of the files that I got this morning."

"Why don't we move this to the conference room, Tank we'll be there in a minute." Ranger said to everyone.

While waiting for everyone to leave Ranger's office I started to feel sick.

"Babe, I'm sorry that I couldn't warn you. He just got here right before you did." He came over and wrapped me in his arms. "Something else we need to talk about as well before we go in there."

"What's that?"

"My mother called, it seems Tank has a big mouth and when he was talking to my brother this morning he let it slip that we got married. Now my mother wants us both at dinner tonight."

"Tonight! Ranger I can't go meet your family tonight, I need time to prepare for that."

"No getting out of it Steph, my mother is just as bad as yours if not worse when it comes to ordering me around." He finished with a smile. "We need to leave here around 4:30."

"Is big bad Ranger scared of his mommy?" I then changed the subject and asked. "Would you mind telling me what the hell Tucker is doing here?"

"I wish I knew."

"Ric, I don't have a good feeling about this. I think he is up to something."

"We'll figure it out Babe, let's go in there see what he has to say. I am going to tell them that we have to be someplace and that this meeting that he wants to have is going to have to wait until morning. I'm going to have Tank, Lester, Bobby and Jase try and find out what is going on."

"Sounds good, let's get this over with. The less I am around Tucker the better."

As we enter the conference room I look around and notice that no one is really talking.

"Sorry for the delay," Ranger says. "Tucker this meeting is going to have to wait until the morning. Steph and I already have plans and we need to head out soon, we weren't expecting you until morning."

"Ranger, I would really like to get started on this."

"Well that will be impossible to do tonight, Steph needs to be in on the meeting." Tucker just looked at Ranger and raised his eyebrow. "Tank and Steph are the primary team working on this for Rangeman." Ranger responds to Tucker.

"I thought Tank was your partner?"

"Things change." Was all Ranger said.

"If you will all excuse us we really need to get ready to go. We will all meet back here at 9am, Tucker when you get here someone will buzz you in and bring you back to this room."

And with that Ranger and I left and made our way up to the 7th floor.

"So Ric, who is going to be there tonight?"

"I have no idea Babe, but if I know my mother she is going to try and have the whole family there."

I was trying to get ready and mentally prepare myself for meeting Ric's family, and I had no idea what to wear.

"Ric, what should I wear tonight?"

"Whatever you are comfortable in, it is just my family."

I turned to look at him and he looked gorgeous, he was wearing faded jeans and a long sleeved, button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up, in black. I had to hurry and turn away or we would never get out of here, I decided on pair of black jeans and a white v-neck shirt with blue pinstripes and finished it off with black boots with a three inch heel. My hair decided to cooperate and fell in soft curls, and actually looked really good for a change.

"Ready Babe?"

I nodded, and we made our way to the garage. When we got down there I noticed a new truck and not just any truck, a brand new Ford F-150 Harley Davidson edition. Ranger noticed me admiring the truck.

"Wanna drive it Babe?"

"Is this yours?"

"Nope, all yours. There are two bikes that are sitting in the garage at the house waiting for us as well."

"Are you serious?"

He nodded and I jumped into his arms kissing him.

"Thank you."

"Your welcome Babe, I am looking forward to jumping on the bikes and taking a ride."

"Me too, I love the truck but for tonight would you mind if we took your Turbo." I think I shocked him, so I continued. "It's just that I have so many things on my mind right now, and when I take the truck out for the first time I want to enjoy it."

We made the drive mostly in silence, I was so wrapped in my thoughts about Tucker. I really want to know what he is up to.

"Babe, we're here. Don't be nervous, they already love you."

"They don't even know me?"

"Yes but they have been hearing stories about you for the last couple of years and after Scrog my mother asked me about you. She looked me right in the eyes and told me that she knew I was in love with you."

"Wow, I guess part of me is nervous because of how things went at my parents house last night."

"Steph, your family and mine are complete opposites. My parents always encouraged us to do what we wanted, not what was expected by society standards."

"I love you."

"Love you to Babe, not let's get in there before my mother comes out here."

No sooner had we entered the house, three kids had attacked Ranger.

"Uncle Ric, your finally here. Mama told us you were coming tonight." The little boy said as he jumped into Ranger's arms.

"Babe I want you to meet Mikey," he said referring to the little boy in his arms. "and these two little beauties are Peyton and Gabby. Mikey and Gabby are twins."

"Your finally here!" A woman came over and hugged Ranger, she was beautiful and I could only assume that she was one of Ranger's sisters. "Well are you going to introduce me to my new sister in law?"

"Steph, this is my sister Celia, Peyton is her daughter. And here comes my sister Sofia, Gabby and Mikey belong to her."

"Ric, it has been to long." Sofia said as she came up to hug him.

"Sofia, this is Stephanie."

"It is so nice to finally meet you, come in you two Mama and Papa are in the living room waiting for you."

Ric grabbed my hand and looked down at me. "Ready Babe?"

"It's now or never." I replied with a smile.

"Ricardo Carlos Manoso!" I heard someone shout, I looked around and saw what could only be Ranger's mom.

"Hello Mama."

"Don't you hello Mama me, why did I have to hear about you getting married from your brother?"

"Because Tank has a big mouth."

His mother turned to me. "Stephanie, welcome to our family. I have been waiting to meet you for sometime now."

"It's a pleasure to meet you Mrs. Manoso."

"None of that Mrs. Manoso, you are family call me Grace. And this is my husband Carlos."

He came over and gave me a hug and welcomed me to the family.

"Ric, you go and visit with the family, I am going to steal your wife for a little while."

He must have seen the panicked look on my face and responded, "Mama, I don't know if that is a good idea."

"Hush, of course it is. I want to get to know my new daughter."

And with that she dragged me to the kitchen with her.

"Stephanie, I am so glad that the two of you are together and married now. You make my son very happy. Why do you look so shocked? Were you afraid that we would be angry?"

"Honestly?" She shook her head. "Well my family didn't take the news very well and I really didn't want to go through that again. It seems the only people to be happy for us are the guys at Rangeman."

"Well then I guess it is a good thing you are part of my family now. I don't care how the two of you were married or where, as I said, you make my son happy and for that I am grateful. He has always been so dark, I haven't seen him this happy since he was a young boy."

"Thank you, you don't know how much it means to me to hear that."

"Why did your family not react as well, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Not at all, my mother has had this image of me settling down to the "Burg" life with my ex-boyfriend. He and I just didn't work, we were on and off again for almost three years. I started falling in love with Ric almost from the time I met him, I am just glad he waited for me to finally realize that he is the only person who could ever make me truly happy. My mother has wanted nothing more for me to be married and start having babies, she didn't care what I wanted. We went for dinner last night to tell the the news and my mother went completely nuts, as did my sister, my dad and grandmother were happy for us."

"I can assure you Stephanie that my family is very happy with the news and I hope that we always make you feel welcome here with us."

Grace gave me a hug and from behind us we heard a throat clearing.

"Everything okay in here."

"Yes Ric, everything is fine." Grace told him

"Good, Christian and Ana are here and would like to meet Steph, so if you don't mind I am going to steal my wife away for a bit."

The rest of the night with the Manoso family was wonderful, I have never seen a family as close as they are. They all made me feel welcome. Ric's sister Marina is a party planner and she decided that she wanted to help us with our reception, we decided to have it in six weeks and Marina was going to take care of everything. The only thing that we needed to do was give our final approval over everything. It was getting late and I knew we had to be in early so we said our goodbyes and made our way back to Trenton.

"Did you have a good time?"

"Thank you for tonight Ric, your family is amazing."

"Did my mother grill you in the kitchen?"

"No, she asked about the wedding and we talked a bit about my families reaction to it, I wish my mother were more like yours. Did she manage to grill you?"

"Yes, but not to much. She told me how happy she was, and then she wanted to know if we would start a family of our own someday."

"What did you tell her?"

"I told her that was something we haven't discussed yet, and if it happens she will be the first to know."

"Well at least she isn't like my mother demanding that we have a family right away."

By the time we got back to Rangeman and made our way upstairs we were both exhausted, so we both got ready for bed.

"Why do you think Tucker is really here?"

"I'm not sure Babe, but I think for now it is best that we just play along with his game and try and figure out if he has a hidden agenda or not."

"I vote for hidden agenda, he never liked Jase or me. I am just waiting for him to say that he knows who I am."

"Maybe we will find out more in the morning, for now why don't we try and get some sleep."

"Sounds good to me Batman, lead the way."

TBC


	19. Chapter 19

Still not mine, not making any money...Just having some fun

Thank you all for the reviews and Thank You Kat for looking over this chapter and helping me fix my mistakes.

Chapter 19

"Come on Babe, time to get up."

"Do I have to?" I was so content to just lie here all day, but I knew that Ranger wanted to get started.

"Yes you do." Was his only response.

"But if I get up, that means I have to deal with Tucker. I am not so sure I am ready for that."

"Babe."

"I know, I know."

After showering and getting dressed we had a light breakfast and made our way downstairs to the conference room. Tank, Lester, Bobby and Jase were the only ones in there.

"What's going on guys, I thought we were all meeting this morning?"

"Well Bombshell, it seems as though Tucker had more important things to take care of in D.C., he left us the files so we can start going over the cases," Tank answered, "Maggie and Joe are on their way over with Eddie and Captain D'Angelo."

"Thank God he is gone, I didn't want to have to deal with him."

The intercom buzzed and it was Ram letting us know that everyone had arrived.

The meeting got underway and we really knew nothing more than we did before. Women were being kidnapped from night clubs, some of them had been murdered. The ones that were still alive were in pretty bad shape after their ordeals, they had been beaten, raped and drugged with heroin. So far four there have been two bodies found dead and another two in the hospital, both in serious condition.

Something made me look up and I noticed that Tank was trying to get my attention.

"I'm sorry Tank, what did you say?"

"I asked if you had anything to add?"

"I don't think so."

"Well then why don't we take a break for lunch and then meet back here in an hour?"

Everyone agreed and before we could go Ram came in to tell me that I had a visitor.

"Who is it?"

"Your mom," he answered.

"Shit, where is she?"

"She's downstairs in the reception area."

"Thanks Ram, could you tell her I'll be right down."

"Babe, you going to be okay?"

"I'll be fine, I am going to take her upstairs to talk with her. It may take longer than our lunch break."

"Don't worry about it, take as long as you need."

Another reason I love this man. I kissed him and then went down to get my mother. My mom was nervously sitting there looking around waiting for me to come in. She stood as soon as she saw me enter the reception area.

"Stephanie."

"Mom, if you are here to fight with me about my marriage to Ranger then you can just leave."

"I don't want to fight with you Stephanie, I want to talk with you. You ran out of the house so fast the other night I didn't know if you would speak to me at all."

"Why don't we go upstairs and talk."

We spent the ride up to the seventh floor in silence. I had no idea what my mother was thinking but I was nervous as hell. I am so tired of fighting with her about my life, I just hope she really meant what she said about not fighting with me today. Ella was just leaving the apartment when my mom and I got off the elevator.

"Oh, Stephanie hello dear. Ranger called and said you would be having lunch up here with your mother. I brought up some turkey sandwiches and some goodies for later on."

"Thank you, Ella. I would like you to meet my mother, Ellen Plum. Mom this is Ella Guzman."

"It is a pleasure to meet you Mrs. Plum."

"Please call me Ellen, and it is a pleasure to meet you as well."

My mom and I enjoyed our lunch and didn't really get into our heavy discussion until after. We both made ourselves comfortable in the living room.

"Mom..."

"Stephanie I have several things I need to say to you, I want you to listen to me." She looked at me and waited for me to agree, I nodded my head and she continued. "You are just as much my daughter as Valerie is, I have never thought of you as anything else. I have always wanted nothing but the best for you, and what I thought was best for you was to settle down and raise a family. I am sorry that Dickie hurt you and that I wasn't more understanding of that, but when you started to date Joseph I thought you were perfect together and that he would be the one that you would settle into a "Burg" life with."

"Mom..." I tried to cut her off, but she put her hand up for me to stop and continued.

"I couldn't understand it when you took a job as a bounty hunter, and then I could see you getting closer to Ranger. I didn't like that at all, and that was for my own selfish reasons. If you left Joseph for him, I knew that any hopes I had of you being a housewife and mother were over. That is why I was always pushing for you to get a new job and finally commit to Joseph seriously. But now I understand that was wrong of me, I can see how happy Ranger makes you. For all of this I apologize."

I sat there stunned just looking at my mother thinking who the hell was this woman and where is the real Ellen Plum.

"As for Valerie, I have no idea what to say."

"You don't have to say anything about her, I know now how she truly feels and to be honest it hurt for a little bit. She doesn't understand my life or the things that I have done. I'm sorry that I never told you the truth about the time I was away, I knew you would be mad and demand that I come home. Despite what happened it truly was the best time of my life, at least up until the end. I know you probably have questions about that time period of my life, feel free to ask and I will tell you what I can."

"Why the Army?"

At least she started with something easy for me to answer.

"Jase and I got to be pretty close after we first met and all he ever talked about was joining the Army to be like his dad. After a while it started sounding good to me as well, I talked to daddy and Uncle Jack about it and even though they both had some reservations they thought it was a good idea in the end."

"What about when you were hurt, what happened?"

"I can't really tell you much, I know that a lot of things went wrong for some reason and we were caught. If it hadn't been for Ranger and the guys, we probably wouldn't have ever gotten out."

"Are you and Ranger planning on starting a family?"

And there is the mother that I know, going right in for the kill.

"Honestly I don't think so, but not for the reasons you think. When Dickie and I were married he wanted to start a family, I knew back then that I could have problems so I went to talk with my doctor. After some tests, he told me that it was unlikely that I would ever be able to conceive a baby let alone carry a full term pregnancy. Please keep this to yourself, I haven't told Ric yet and it is something that I would rather not think about."

"Stephanie," my mother had tears in her eyes, "I wish you would have told me all of this sooner."

"I should have, but mom you need to understand that this is something that I don't talk about or even like to think about. It took me a long time to forget it all and stop having nightmares, if it hadn't been for Mary Lou and Eddie, I may have lost my mind. I was so angry that I stopped talking to Jase and Maggie for a long time."

We both sat in silence until the ringing phone startled us both.

"Hello."

"Hey Babe, I just wanted to check on you and make sure everything was okay up there."

Looking down at my watch I realized that my mom and I had been talking for over two hours.

"Ric, I'm sorry that we took so long."

"Don't worry about that, I just wanted to make sure there was no bloodshed."

"Very funny, we are just about finished. I was thinking of inviting my parents and grandma, along with Maggie, Jase and Jack to dinner at the house on Saturday night. What do you think?"

"Sounds good."

"Good. I will be down soon." We finished our conversation and I turned to my mom.

"Mom, I want you, Daddy and grandma to come to our house for dinner on Saturday night. Can you make it?"

"Of course we can, I have one more question. Why did the two of you get married so fast?"

"Honestly, it really was spur of the moment. Ranger and I went away for the weekend and he asked me to marry him. I said yes and didn't even have to think about it, when Joe asked me, I couldn't run away fast enough. I told Ranger that I would marry him that second if I could, the next thing I knew we were on our way to Vegas. I knew you would be hurt and angry with me, but it was a chance I was willing to take. I love him mom, more than I ever thought I could love someone."

With understanding in her eyes she responded, "I really am happy for you, Ric is the perfect man for you."

"Thank you mom, for everything."

"I love you Stephanie, don't ever forget that."

"I won't, I love you too, Mom."

I took my Mom down to the garage and then made my way up to the conference room.

"Meeting over?" I asked when I got into the conference room. I noticed Morelli and the rest of the cops that were there were now gone.

"Yeah, we got all the information we needed from the TPD. Morelli will be back in the morning for a meeting to discuss how things will be handled." Tank answered.

"So I invited my parents and grandma over for dinner on Saturday night, and since grandma is waiting to see you both", I said while looking straight at Maggie and Jase, "I thought the two of you should come along as well."

"Sounds good to me, I have missed her." Maggie replied.

"Maggie, why don't you bring a date?" I said as I glanced at Lester.

"Can I bring a date?" Jase spoke up.

"No."

"How come Maggie can bring a date but I can't?" Jase whined.

"Because if you brought a date it wouldn't be as much fun, now Maggie on the other hand, if she brought a date that would be entertainment for everyone." I answered trying not to laugh.

The room was silent for a few minutes and then I couldn't hold in the laughter any longer. Lester was still sitting there with a look of horror on his face, guess he forgot that Maggie and I share the same grandma.

"So what's it gonna be Maggie, will you bring a date?"

Without even looking at Lester, Maggie said yes and I heard a groan which could have only come from Lester. Dinner is going to be so much fun, at least for me.

TBC


	20. Chapter 20

I wish they were mine, but the wonderful characters in the world of Plum belong to JE

If anyone out there is still reading this, I apologize for the long wait in between chapters. Between RL being a big pain in the ass and my Muse taking off for parts unknown I haven't really been writing. I should also have a few more chapters up in the next week or so.

Chapter 20

It has been almost 6 weeks and nothing new on the murder case we have been working on with Joe and Maggie. I have spent a lot of time the last few weeks learning more about Rangeman business and getting to know my family again. There have been several family dinners and all of them, much to Grandma Mazur's delight have included Lester. After the first dinner I didn't think he was brave enough to come back. Grandma really went after him that first dinner at the _"Bat cave", _I don't think there was a sexual question that she didn't ask him.

I am still worrying about Tucker and what he is up to, thankfully he has not been back to Trenton to check up on the case. The only people to have contact with him were Maggie and Joe. Ranger and I have talked a lot about the whole situation and neither of us can come up with anything. I had been in my office trying to get through some paperwork when Tank came in

"Come on Steph, there was another body found just a few minutes ago behind the Bond's office."

"Who found her?" I was hoping that it hadn't been Connie or Lula.

"Didn't say, but they want us there yesterday. Sounds like there could be something different with this one."

The drive to the Bond's office did not take long at all, there were already plenty of cops and some reporters in the area. I could see Joe, Maggie and Eddie standing over what I assumed to be the body. Joe looked over at me and the biggest look of relief was written all over his face, I noticed that Maggie and Eddie were looking at me the same way. What the hell is going on here?

"Hey Bombshell Bounty Hunter!" I heard someone call, but couldn't place the voice. I turned and saw the weasel of a reporter that came up with the Bombshell Bounty Hunter nickname.

"I don't have time for your antics today, so if you will excuse me..." He cut me off and started speaking as I started to walk away.

"I don't think so, not this time. You and I, we need to have ourselves a little talk. I just wanted to give you a little heads up, Sam."

That stopped me dead in my tracks, my spidey senses were going off like crazy.

"What the hell are you talking about Collins?"

He held up a newspaper in front of me, one look at the caption and I though I would be sick. "**Bombshell Bounty Hunter's Secret Army Life**" There was a picture of me taken not to long ago and then another one of me in my dress uniform.

"Is this some kind of sick joke? You can't print this!" I screamed at him.

"Sure I can, and you can read the whole thing tomorrow morning."

"You sick bastard, do you realize that you could be putting my life in danger?"

"Look, that is not my problem. I just wanted to know if you wanted to give me a comment to print with this?"

"Go to hell!" I screamed at him as I ran off for the truck.

I heard Tank yelling at me to wait for him and I just doubled my pace until I was in the safety of the truck. When I finally got the truck started I looked over and saw Arnie Collins standing there laughing. I took off for Rangeman just as Tank was about to reach the truck. My phone started to ring and I ignored it. I don't even know how I made it back to Rangeman, but as soon as I pulled into the garage I saw Ranger waiting for me. He had me out of the truck and in his arms before I even parked, we got right on the elevator and up to the 7th floor.

"Babe, what the hell happened?"

"It was horrible, what am I going to do?"

"What was so horrible that it has you this upset?"

"When we got out of the truck I noticed that damn reporter, Arnie Collins standing around. He called out to me and told me that we needed to have a talk, I started to walk away and then he called me Sam. He showed me tomorrow's paper and the headline reads...Bombshell Bounty Hunter's Secret Army Life. I told him that he could endanger lives if he printed the article, he said that he could and wanted to know if I would give him a comment for the paper."

"I am going to call our lawyers and see if they can stop the article, if not..."

"If not, then things are going to get really bad around here. I need to talk to the guys and tell them all the truth, I also need to speak with Joe, Lula and Connie tonight."

Ranger was in his office on 7 talking to the lawyers and I went into the bedroom, laid down on the bed and cried. It was a while before Ranger came in and joined me on the bed.

"Babe, are you going to be okay?"

"What did the lawyers have to say?"

"They are going to try and stop the article, but they can't guarantee that it will happen. I'm so sorry Babe."

"It's not your fault, how am I going to tell them?"

Before either of us had a chance to say another word Ranger's cell phone rang.

"Yo."

That was all he said as he listened to whoever was on the line.

"Okay, we'll be down in a few minutes. That was Tank, Maggie and Joe are back and they have some things to go over with us about this mornings latest murder. Are you up to it?"

"Yeah, just let me freshen up first."

Within ten minutes we were walking into the conference room together, Tank spied me first and came over to me.

"What the hell was that all about, you just about scared me half to death the way you took off. Are you okay?"

I wrapped my arms around him and he hugged me tight. I whispered in his ear, "I'm sorry, I will tell you everything after the meeting."

Ranger spoke up next.

"Joe, Maggie, what do we know from this morning?"

"To be honest with you Ranger, this case is getting stranger and stranger. First of all most of the guys there this morning were pretty freaked out, the woman that was found looks like Steph. Second she has some pretty stage pictures on her and a note. We know her name and where she is from and not much else, same as the other girls. Beaten, raped and from what we could tell drugged. She had needle tracks on her arms and some white powder around her nose. We also found some drug paraphernalia in her purse." Joe finished, and went to his laptop to put the pictures up on the projector.

My spidey senses were now going off like crazy and from what I just listened to I was really getting freaked out.

"Before we begin I really need to talk to Steph for a minute." I could hear the urgency in Maggie's voice.

"Let's go to my office." I could feel Ranger's eyes watch us leave the room.

"Joe, go through the pictures with them. When we come back in, we can go through them again with Steph. And one other thing, someone needs to call Jase and get him here immediately." Maggie called over her shoulder.

We went right to my office and shut the door.

"Okay Mags, what the hell was that all about?"

"Steph, it's really bad. I think I know who is behind these murders and attacks and I also think I know why?"

"Mags, you are really starting to scare me."

"The woman had short blond hair or at least we thought she did, in her picture on her driver's license her hair was long brown and curly, she also has blue eyes. Her driver's license was less than 6 months old and the pictures that we found on her..."

"What about the pictures?"

"They...they were of you, Jase, Mateo, Hunter and Tucker and I am guessing they are from Columbia."

"What about the note?"

"The note was for Mateo and all it said was _Mateo, hope this makes it easier to find who we have both been looking for_."

"Ruiz, he is behind all of this. He found me and now he is going to come after me next, I have got to get the hell out of here." I was starting to have a panic attack and I couldn't breathe.

"Steph, calm down. We are going to get him and put and end to this."

"How can I calm down when the man the raped and tortured me for weeks is coming after me again? Maggie I am so scared." I said as I went down to the floor.

Maggie came down to the floor and held me as I cried, then softly started speaking.

"Steph, can you handle going back in there?"

"No, but I know I have to. Maggie you need to run this, you know what is going on, Joe has no idea what he is about to be hit with."

"Okay, ready to get back in there?"

When we went back to the conference room Ranger was out of his seat and by my side. I also noticed out of the corner of my eye that Jase was back.

"Babe, are you okay?"

"Not really, but I need to see these pictures."

"Let's all take our seats and go through this again."

"Joe, I will handle it this time."

"First up we have Samantha Myers, age 23. She is from New York City. Her body was found this morning behind Vincent Plum Bail Bonds. As you can see, she is in pretty much the same shape as the rest of the girls we have found murdered. There are some differences, also she..."

Maggie was cut off by Lester who was entering the conference room speaking to someone who was trailing behind him.

"And this is our main conference room...shit." He stood frozen in the doorway.

I guess he didn't realize that anyone was in here and he turned and tried to stop whoever was behind him from coming into the room, without any success. I didn't really get a look at who was behind him, but I heard him speak and the one word he said made my heart drop.

"Sam!"

TBC


	21. Chapter 21

Kind of short, I know. I am trying to get back into the swing of things, hope you all enjoy this chapter.

Not mine, but I wish they were

Chapter 21

"Sam!"

In that instant I knew that the person with Lester was his brother, Mateo.

"Can someone please tell me why Sam's picture is up there and what the hell happened to her?"

"Calm down Mateo, that is not Sam." Maggie explained and then continued, "this is a murder victim from this morning. She was found behind the bail bond office, I know the similarities are unbelievable but it's not her."

I was listening to their conversation from the other side of the room when I felt Ranger come up behind me.

"Babe, are you going to be all right? I had no idea that Mateo and Hunter were going to be here today."

"What choice do I have? I knew I was going to have to face him sooner or later, I was really hoping for later."

I turned to face Ranger and put my head on his chest, I was listening to everyone else in the room.

"I just want to know what the hell is going on here, first Steph takes off this morning from the scene, then we get back here and you decide that you need to have a private talk with her. Maggie, we are partners and I think you need to tell me the real story and what it all has to do with Steph." Joe sounded really angry.

"Who are you and who the hell is Steph?"

Before things got to carried away I decided to step in.

"Can everyone just calm down for a minute! Now I know that everyone has questions they want answered and I think I can do that."

Everyone stopped and looked at me, especially Mateo. He stared at me for a few minutes before speaking and incredulous look overtaking his face.

"Is this some kind of fucking joke?"

"Mat, please just listen..."

He put his hand up and cut me off, the look on his face was pure anger. "No, I am not going to sit here and listen. What kind of game are you playing?"

"Mat, you need to calm down."

"Calm down, Lester tell me how am I supposed to calm down when a woman who has haunted my dreams for over 8 years is standing right in front of me?"

"Everyone needs to just shut up!" Everyone stopped and looked at Ranger. "Now, before we continue is there a reason that you two are here?" Guess Ranger had had enough of the yelling.

"As a matter of fact Ric, we are here about this case. It seems to tie into one of our cases and when we talked to Tucker about it, he said that Maggie was here and handling the case with Rangeman." Hunter explained.

"Wait a minute, Tucker sent you here?"

I looked at both Hunter and Mateo, they both nodded.

"Son of a bitch, he knew this whole time. That's why he was here!"

"Steph, there is no way to know that..."

"Jase, he hates us both and would do anything he could to hurt either one of us."

Mateo had been quietly watching before speaking up. "So Steph is the name you are going by now," then he turned to Lester, "and you knew about this and didn't tell me?"

"Don't blame him, I asked him not to tell you."

"Do you have any idea what I have been through over the last 8 years?"

"Mateo, this is not about you," and before I could say another word he cut me off.

"Not about me? What about us, we were engaged, and you were pregnant with my child. I would like some answers as to why you disappeared without even a goodbye?" He finished angrily.

"Jesus Christ Mateo, what about me? I was the one that was raped and tortured every day for weeks, do you know how long it took me to get over that. I lost my family, it was years before I could face Jase or my father again. It was to hard to face any of you and cutting off contact was the only way I could heal. I'm sorry for going about it the way I did, but I had to do what was best for me."

"Don't you think I wanted to help you? I loved you and wanted to spend the rest of my life with you, I wanted to help you. I know what happened to you, I had to watch helplessly everyday while he did those things to you."

"You know what Mateo, we don't all get what we want out of life. Right now I can't be worried about you and your feelings, this latest murder is the only thing that concerns me. Ruiz is out there and he is coming for me, he left a note specifically for you and pictures of all of us from our time in Columbia." I finished, not knowing what else to say.

It was so deathly quiet you could hear a pin drop, until Joe spoke up.

"I think I have been patient long enough, now will somebody please tell me what the hell is going on?" Joe asked angrily.

TBC


End file.
